Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-03-27
Supreme Court
|Upho|ds Portal
PAY for Miners
7-to-2 Decision Backs
Claims of Alabama
Iron Ore Workers
BY ]. A. FOX.

The supreme Court, by a Ito
2 vote, today held that Alabama
iron ore miners are entitled to
portal-to-portal pay under the
Fair Labor Standards (Wage-
Hour Act.
The Wage Hour Act must not be
interpreted or applied in a narrow,
grudging manner" the court said in
upholding the right of the miners
to travel pay which the operators
said would add millions yearly to
their costs.
The decision is expected to weigh
heavily in current litigation pressed
by the United Mine Workers to
define rights of coal miners with
respect to pay for the time con-
sumed in underground travel when
starting and finishing work.
Roberts and Stone Dissent.
Justice Roberts wrote dissent, in
which he was joined by Chief JUS
tice Stone. Justice Murphy deliv-
cred the majority opinion and JUS
tices Frankfurter and Jackson wrote
separate concurring opinions
The decision aff1rms the ruling Of
the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals
which held that iron ore workers
employed by the Tennessee Coal,
Iron & Railroad Co., the Schloss-
Sheffield Co. and Republic Steel
Corp. were entitled to have their
travel time included within the 40
hour work week prescribed by the
Wage-Hour Act, and consequently,
to be compensate at overtime rates
after the statutory period.
addressing himself specifically to
this point, Justice Murphy said:
"In determining whether this
underground travel constitutes com.
pensable work or employment with
in the meaning of the Fair Labor
Standards Act, we are not guided
by any precise statutory definition
of work or employment. Section IA
(of the acD merely provides that
no one who is engaged in commerce
or in the production for commerce
shall be employed for a work week
longer than the prescribed hours
unless compensation is paid for the
excess hours at rate not less than
one and one-half times the regular
rate Section &c defines the word
employ to include to suffer or
|permit to work, while section 81
Estates that the production includes
any process or occupation neces-
|, sary to - production
Rights of Toilers at Stake.
But these provisions like the
other portions of the Fair Labor
standards Act are remedial and hu-
manitarian in purpose. We are not
here dealing with mere chattels or
articles of trade, but with the rights
of those who toll, of those who sac
rifice a full measure of their free
dom and talents to the use and
profits of others.
Those are the rights that Con-
gress has specially legislated to pro-
tect. Such a statute must not be
interpreted or applied in a narrow,
grudging manner. Accordingly, we
have used section IA, &c and 81
Iof the act as necessarily indicative
of congressional intention to guar
antee either regular or overtime
compensation for all actual work or
employment. To hold that an en-
ployer may validity compensate his
employees for only fraction of the
time consumed in actual labor
would be inconsistent with the very
purpose and structure of those sec
lions of the act.
ut is vital, of course" to deter
mine first the extent of the actual
work week. Only after this is done
can the minimum wage and maxi
mum hour requirements of the act
be effectively applied, and in the abb
sence of a contrary legislative ex-
preston, we cannot assume that
Congress here was referring to work
or employment othen than as those
words are commonly used-as mean
ing physical or mental exertion
whether burdensome or mott con-
trolled or required by the employer
and pursued necessarily and pri.
marily for the benefit of the EN-.
ployer and his business
Hazards Taken in Consideration.
The exacting and dangerous con-
dltions in the mine shafts stand as
mute, unanswerable proof that the
journey from and to the portal in
wolves continuous physical and men,
tai exertion, as well as hazards to
life and limb. And this compulsory
travel occurs entirely on petitioners
property and is at all times under
their strict control and supervision. -
The court said its opinion did not
foreclose reasonable provisions Of
contract or custom governing the
computation of work hours where
precisely accurate computation is
difficult or impossible" and added,
nor are we concerned here with
the effect that custom and contract
may have in borderline cases where
the other facts give rise to serious
(See PORTAL PAY. Page A-40