Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/320/561
Timestamp: 2013-06-19 05:40:59
Document Index: 274838635

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 66', '§ 267', '§ 1401', 'Art. 1232', '§ 2733', '§ 6', 'Art. 1242', 'Art. 1462']

UNITED STATES v. MYERS. UNITED STATES v. ARBLE. UNITED STATES v. MARTIN. UNITED STATES v. PLITZ. UNITED STATES v. SPITZ. | Supreme Court | LII / Legal Information Institute
Supreme Court aboutsearch liibulletin subscribe previews UNITED STATES v. MYERS. UNITED STATES v. ARBLE. UNITED STATES v. MARTIN. UNITED STATES v. PLITZ. UNITED STATES v. SPITZ.
320 U.S. 561 (64 S.Ct. 337, 88 L.Ed. 1051)
UNITED STATES v. MYERS. UNITED STATES v. ARBLE. UNITED STATES v. MARTIN. UNITED STATES v. PLITZ. UNITED STATES v. SPITZ.
Argued: Dec. 16, 17, 1943.
[HTML] As Amended on Petition for Clarification of Opinion Feb. 28, 1944.
These five suits were filed in the Court of Claims by respondents, who are customs inspectors stationed at the Port of Detroit.
The precise issue is whether or not the provisions of Section 5 of the Act of February 13, 1911, as amended,
and Sections 401, 450 and 451 of the Tariff Act of 1930,
entitle Mr. Myers to extra compensation over and above his regular salary as customs inspector for night, Sunday and holiday services performed during the stated period. Its solution depends upon whether or not, when Section 5 speaks of 'overtime services,' it includes, first, any authorized service rendered between 5 o'clock P.M. and 8'clock A.M., without regard to whether this service is within the regular hours of his assignment to duty, and, second, Sundays and holidays without regard to the tim of day when the authorized services are performed. The Court of Claims entered judgment for claimant for both nighttime and Sunday and holiday services. 99 Ct.Cl. 158.
The Port of Detroit possesses a wide variety of transportation facilities which connect it with Canada and which require customs inspection of merchandise, baggage and passengers.
Evidently a rotation of assignments of posts and hours among inspectors at Detroit was carried out by the collector. Mr. Myers had either night or Sunday and holiday service or both at all the various posts of duty which are listed in the note. He was paid his annual salary throughout the period. This was a base pay of $2,100, subject to additions and subtractions which were generally applicable to government employees.
The claim is for service performed at nighttime
At the threshold the Government urges that the statutes heretofore quoted do not create an obligation on the part of the United States to pay the extra compensation which is sought. A carrier may procure customs service at night only by special license, and the statutes say the extra compensation shall be paid 'by the licensee' to the collector of customs who shall pay the same 'to the inspectors.'
As the extra compensation here sued for was not collected in whole or part from the carriers concerned, it is urged that the United States is not liable to the plaintiff.
The legislative history shows that the proponents of extra compensation constantly made the point that the Government would not be out of pocket by the legislation.
Where the United States stood as a protector of Indians with statutory authority, carefully marked out by a series of enactments, to collect sums for the benefit of its dependents, we held that the Government's failure to collect did not give rise to a liability. Creek Nation v. United States, 318 U.S. 629, 637, 639, 63 S.Ct. 784, 788, 789. In that case we said that authorization to collect did not create a mandatory duty, particularly where the Indians also might have sued. Likewise, under similar circumstances, we have determined that over-collection did not create liability for reimbursement. United States v. Algoma Lumber Co., 305 U.S. 415, 418, 419, 423, 59 S.Ct. 267, 269, 271, 83 L.Ed. 260. But here the United States is neither protector nor agent. It is an employer who issues orders to the inspectors directing the performance of services. The work is done under the statutes. No inspector may 'receive any salary in connection with his services as such an official or employee from any source other than the Government of the United States.' Act of March 3, 1917, c. 163, 39 Stat. 1106, 5 U.S.C.A. § 66. These payments are made by the licensees to the collector at rates fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury. This is extra compensation over and above the annual salary, not a payment from licensees. Section 451 requires a bond from the licensee to 'pay the compensation and expenses of the customs officers,' but the payment must be made to the collector under Section 5. These facts lead us to the view that the statutes create an obligation on the part of the United States to pay the inspectors such sums as they may earn under their provisions.
We come then to an examination of the extent of the obligation under the several sections heretofore quoted in notes 2 and 3. From the earliest days, customs inspections have normally proceeded in daylight. By special license, the work of the customs might be performed at night.
Inspectors were on duty continuously and at first were paid on a per diem basis.
By the Act of March 3, 1873, R.S. Section 2871, the practice of licensees of paying extra compensation for nighttime service
(between sunset and sunrise) was formalized by authorizing the collector to fix reasonable extra compensation and to collect and distribute it among the inspectors. The provisions of that section gradually were extended to additional employees and to different circumstances. 23 Stat. 53, 59; 34 Stat. 633. In 1911 further changes were made by an Act for lading and unlading vessels. 36 Stat. 901. Section 5 under examination here emerges there in nearly its present form. Extra compensation for nighttime services was continued and was authorized for the first time for Sundays and holidays.
The latest changes were made in Section 5 in 1920. 'Night' services became 'overtime' services. Sundays and holidays were placed at the beginning of the section in juxtaposition with 'hours' which were fixed at from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. The last proviso vesting authority in the Collector of Customs to regulate the hours of employees 'so as to agree with prevailing working hours in said ports' was added.
The Collector of Customs at Detroit, during the years in question, assigned inspectors to tours of duty of eight hours each day, which tours might be at any time within a twenty-four hour period.
The length of the weekly tour varied with the post and with the state of the federal legislation. The findings of the Court of Claims as to the actual results are set out in the note below.
In the administration of customs, regulations based on the sections of the Tariff Act of 1930 and Section 5 of the Act of 1911 were issued by the Treasury Department. Customs Regulations 1931 and 1937. So far as here pertinent they are substantially alike.
The legislative history of the various acts makes clear the intention of Congress to allow extra compensation only when there are overtime services in the sense of work hours in addition to the regular daily tour of duty without regard to the period within the twenty-four hours when the regular daily tour is performed. Congressman Moore explained the purpose as follows (Hearings on H.R. 9525, 61st Cong., 2d Sess. at p. 470):
'The department has under consideration a plan whereby boarding officers and inspectors of customs will be assigned to duty in eight-hour shifts and will not, therefore, be called upon to work overtime and no extra compensation paid to officers assigned to the night shift. In order to carry out such plan it will be necessary to secure additional appropriations, and pending the adoption of the plan it will, of course, be necessary to detail inspectors and other employees for night work.'
There are other references in the hearings to the use of the 'shift' system to secure twenty-four hour service without extra compensation. The legal basis for a collector's authority to assign inspectors in this way is the last proviso of Section 5, note 2, supra. It gives the collector authority in those ports where customary working hours are other than 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. to regulate the hours of inspectors so as to agree with prevailing working hours in the ports. In speaking of the provision after its adoption, an official of the Customs Inspectors Association said at a hearing on an immigration inspectors bill (Hearings on S.1504, S.1774 and S.2188, 67th Cong., 1st and 2d sess., p. 130): 'To meet the condition at New Orleans, where the hours of labor are from 7 o'clock a.m. to 4 o'clock p.m., this proviso at the end of the bill was put in allowing collectors to adjust the inspectors' hours to the customary working hours at ports where the practices are different. This proviso also applies to the Canadian border at places where traffic is continuous during the 24 hours, such being the 'customary working hours'and the inspectors work in 8-hour shifts without overtime.'
The proviso of Section 5 does not give the Collector of Customs authority to make assignments which deprive inspectors of this Sunday and holiday pay. It authorizes adjustments of hours but specifically forbids alteration of overtime pay. It is silent as to Sundays and holidays which leaves the earlier grant of extra compensation for those days in effect. Overtime pay is also applicable to Sundays and holidays when inspectors work longer than nine hours with one hour for food and rest. The rate of overtime extra compensation on Sundays and holidays is the same as the rate for weekdays. The administrative practice is uncertain. It does not support a contrary conclusion. The Government cites excerpts from testimony on amendatory bills, not here directly involved, which indicate the extra compensation is paid for Sundays and holidays.
Findings 5 and 6 of the Court of Claims, note 17, supra, show that extra compensation was paid at times for Sunday and holiday services.
Two further contentions of the Government require consideration. It is said that Section 5 of the 1911 Act as amended does not apply to services rendered at a bridge or tunnel. This Court so held in 1922. International Ry. Co. v. Davidson, 257 U.S. 506, 512, 42 S.Ct. 179, 181, 66 L.Ed. 341. At that time, the section's application was limited to 'vessel or other conveyance.' Since then Sections 401, 450 and 451 of the Tariff Act of 1922, 42 Stat. 858, 948, 954, and of the Tariff Act of 1930, note 3, supra, have expanded the instrumentalities to include every contrivance capable of being use as a means of transportation on land or water.
41 Stat. 402, c. 61, 19 U.S.C. 267, 19 U.S.C.A. § 267:
and any customs officer who may be designated for that purpose by the collector of customs are hereby authorized to administer the oath or affirmation herein provided for, and such boarding officers shall be allowed extra compensation for services in boarding vessels at night or on Sundays or holidaysat the rates prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury as herein provided, the said extra compensation to be paid by the master, owner, agent, or consignee of such vessels: Provided further, That in those ports where customary working hours are other than those hereinabove mentioned, the collector of customs is vested with authority to regulate the hours of customs employees so as to agree with prevailing working hours in said ports, but nothing contained in this proviso shall be construed in any manner to affect or alter the length of a working day for customs employees or the overtime pay herein fixed.'
46 Stat. 708, 715, c. 497, Title IV, 19 U.S.C. 1401, 1450, 1451, 19 U.S.C.A. §§ 1401, 1450, 1451:
'When used in this title or in Part I of Title III
'(a) Vessel.The word 'vessel' includes every description of water craft or other contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation in water, but does not include aircraft.
'(b) Vehicle.The word 'vehicle' includes every description of carriage or other contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on land, but does not include aircraft.'
'(f) Day.The word 'day' means the time from eight o'clock antemeridian to five o'clock postmeridian.
'(g) Night.The word 'night' means the time from five o'clock postmeridian to eight o'clock antemeridian.'
'Sec. 451. SameExtra Compensation.
'Art. 1232. Accounting for Overtime.(a) Upon receipt of any payments for the services of officers and employees at night or on Sundays or holidays, collectors shall immediately deposit the same in their special deposit accounts and make payment therefrom by check to the officers and employees who rendered the services, and refund in the same manner any funds deposited in excess, these funds to be accounted for in the same manner as other moneys deposited in special deposit accounts.'
Hearings on H.R. 9525, 61st Cong., 2d Sess., pp. 461, 463, 464465; Hearings on H.R. 6577, 66th Cong., 1st Sess., 13. When the 1920 amendment was under consideration, its sponsor, Senator Calder, said: 'the shipowner would pay the collector for it, and then, in turn, the men would be paid by the Government.' 59 Cong. Rec. 640.
The Government brief furnishes us a convenient summary of the pay legislation: 'The pay originally fixed at $2 per diem (Act of March 2, 1799, 1 Stat. 704, 706) was gradually increased to a maximum of $6 in 1909 and $7.80 in 1923 (Act of April 26, 1816, 3 Stat. 306; Rev.Stat. § 2733; Act of April 29, 1864, 13 Stat. 61; Act of March 4, 1909, 35 Stat. 1065, Sec. 2; Act of March 4, 1923, 42 Stat. 1453). By the Act of May 29, 1928, 45 Stat. 955, 19 U.S.C. 6a, 19 U.S.C.A. § 6a, customs inspectors were given fixed salaries and paid on annual basis. Compensation of respondents is $2,100 per annum, which may be increased by promotion to a maximum of $3,300. Even prior to 1928, when compensation was changed to an annual basis, customs inspectors, regularly employed and paid on a per diem basis, were paid for 365 days * * * thus receiving the equivalent of an annual salary.'
'Art. 1242. Extra compensation.(a) Customs officers and employees performing services at night, or on Sundays and holidays, for lading or unlading of cargo or merchandise * * * shall receive extra compensation, to be paid by the master, owner, or agent of the vessel, or by the transportation company. * * *'
'Art. 1462. Hours of service.(a) The official hours of officers, clerks, examiners, and employees, except those hereinafter specified, will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a half hour for lunch.
Hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means (House) on H.R. 6577, 66th Cong., 1st Sess., October 11, 1919, pp. 119, particularly p. 11.