Opinion ID: 1125034
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Is the State Pilotage Commission an employer?

Text: In order for us to decide whether the FADEA applies, we must first determine whether the party alleged to have engaged in discrimination is an employer within the meaning of the federal statute. Section 630 of title 29 U.S.C.A. defines employer as follows: (b) The term employer means a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has twenty or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year: Provided, That prior to June 30, 1968, employers having fewer than fifty employees shall not be considered employers. The term also means (1) any agent of such a person, (2) a State or political subdivision of a State and any agency or instrumentality of a State or a political subdivision of a State, and any interstate agency, but such term does not include the United States, or a corporation wholly owned by the Government of the United States. [Emphasis supplied.] Did the State Pilotage Commission have twenty employees? There was conflicting testimony on this issue; the bar pilot contended that it did. The Pilotage Commission contended it had no employees, and in support of its position, cites Mobile Bar Pilots Ass'n v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 97 F.2d 695 (5th Cir. 1938), wherein it was stated: A pilot is the servant of the owner of the vessel who is responsible to third persons for his negligence or want of skill. Sherlock v. Alling, 93 U.S. 99, 23 L.Ed. 819. We hold that the State Pilotage Commission does not employ the pilots; therefore, it is not an employer under that provision of the FADEA, because it has less than the prescribed number of employees, but, 29 U.S.C.A. § 630, also defines employer as a state agency. Is the State Pilotage Commission a state agency? We hold that it is. It is created by statute, Code 1975, § 33-4-1, and its members are appointed by the governor, Code 1975, § 33-4-3; therefore, it is clear that the State Pilotage Commission is an employer within the meaning of the FADEA.