Court Opinion

ID: 9419602
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:50:24.792216+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:19.339163
License: Public Domain

Me. Justice Frankfurter,
concurring.
The Fair Labor Standards Act gives the Administrator charged with its enforcement power tO' fix wages so that they attain a basic minimum rate. In view of the vast and varied range of situations thus placed under his wage-fixing authority, the Administrator naturally enough was given by Congress the power to issue these wage orders on “such terms and conditions as the Administrator finds necessary to carry out the purposes of such orders, to prevent the circumvention or evasion thereof, and to safeguard the minimum wage rates established therein.” § 8 (f), 52 Stat. 1060, 1065, 29 U. S. C. § 208 (f). It would' disregard the authority thus given by Congress to deny that the power to fix minimum wages carries with it the subsidiary power to forbid and to prevent evasion of *270wages so fixed. In the light of the showing made on this record concerning the embroideries industry for which the Administrator concededly fixed valid wage rates, the measures that the Administrator took through provisions dealing with homework in the embroideries industry were relevant to, and in enforcement of, the subsidiary power granted by Congress to prevent evasion of the rates fixed for that industry.
And so I join in the Court’s opinion.
Mr. Justice Roberts.
With deference I venture to think that the Court here essays to read into the law what its words, fairly construed, do not import. The Court arrives at that result by forming a judgment as to what Congress probably should have said, and would have said, if it had considered the matter, in order to make the statute what the Court deems a more perfect instrument for attaining the general objective which Congress sought to attain, and then makes the necessary additions to the language Congress has used. The principal, if not the only argument I find in the opinion for reading something into the statute, is that otherwise it cannot be most effectively applied to certain industries unless the industries themselves are made over.
Section 8 (f) provides that the Administrator’s orders issued under the section “shall define the industries . . . to which they are to apply.” It is not suggested that the order in question is of this description. That with which the industry committee’s investigation dealt was a single industry in which two methods of work were pursued. Obviously it is not a definition of the industry to exclude from it some of those who labor in it.
The section also provides that the Administrator’s orders “shall contain such terms and conditions as the Administrator finds necessary to carry out the purposes of *271such orders, to prevent the circumvention or evasion thereof, and to safeguard the minimum wage rates established therein.” The philosophy of the court’s opinion can be nothing less than that the Administrator may, if he finds it necessary, rewrite the statute. Suppose he finds that, in a given industry, it is, as he puts it, impossible to enforce the minimum wage provision. May he thereupon issue an order prohibiting the further prosecution of that industry and requiring all those who pursue it to follow some other calling? It may be said that the supposition is, on its face, ridiculous. But is it any more so than what was here accomplished? Forty per cent of the workers in an industry, under pain of otherwise losing their occupation, are compelled to give up what they have done time out of mind, and if they desire to pursue their calling to do so under completely changed economic conditions, not in their homes but in factories which, if they are available at all, may be remote from their homes.
The language of § 8 (f) has a reasonable and proper office in the context of the Act. The provisions permitted by that section to be inserted in an order are obviously such as are incidental to administration, such as pertain to keeping records or filing reports; not exorbitant or excessive so as to amount to a regulation or suppression of an existing and recognized industry.
In my view, one need not go outside the provisions of the Act to be convinced that Congress never intended to grant the Administrator the power he has assumed. If it be thought, however, that the phraseology of § 8 (f) is of doubtful import, the legislative history seems to me to demonstrate that Congress purposely, and not by inadvertence, denied the asserted power to the Administrator.
The statute aimed at three things — the limitation of the hours of work, the fixing of minimum compensation per hour, and the prohibition of child labor, We may elim-*272mate from consideration the first and third of these objects, and the statutory provisions implementing them, since we are concerned only with minimum wages. The Act creates a Wage and Hour Division in the Department of Labor and authorizes the appointment of an administrator to be in charge of it (§ 4). It requires the appointment of industry committees representing those engaged in any industry (§ 5). It requires every employer to pay every employe engaged in commerce, or in the production of goods for commerce, at the rate of not less than twenty-five cents an hour for the first year, not less than thirty cents an hour during the next six years, and not less than forty cents an hour after the expiration of seven years. The Administrator is given no authority to issue any orders concerning these prescribed rates or their application in industry, with the sole exception about to be mentioned.
Provision is made to raise wages above the prescribed minima during the seven year period after the effective date of the Act, without curtailing employment or disrupting the economy of an industry. Section 6 refers the reader to § 8 creating machinery to accomplish this. The latter section provides for the convening of industry committees to which the Administrator shall refer the question what minimum wage rate shall be set for the industry. The committee is to investigate conditions in the industry, hold hearings, and recommend the highest minimum wage rates which it determines, having regard to economic and competitive conditions, will not substantially curtail employment.
Upon receiving the committee’s recommendation, the Administrator, after an opportunity for hearing, may approve or disapprove the committee’s recommendation. If he approves, he shall do so by an order the effect of which is to put into force the recommended wage scale. Such orders are not to continue in force after seven years from the effective date of the statute unless the committee *273and the Administrator conclude, and so declare, that it is within the purposes of the Act that the wage fixed by the order shall remain in effect after expiration of that period notwithstanding the requirement of § 6 that all wages shall reach the minimum of forty cents an hour at that time.
Now it is only in enforcement of a committee’s report that the Administrator has power to issue an order with respect to wages, and it is in this context that § 8 (f) permits him to include in his order “such terms and conditions” as he “finds necessary to carry out the purposes” of the order, to prevent circumvention or evasion, and to safeguard the wage rates thereby established.
With respect to the minima fixed by § 6, which apply universally (except where the special procedure authorized by § 8 is invoked), the Administrator has no authority to issue orders such as that issued in this case. He cannot, because he finds it difficult to enforce the Act in an industry, either remake or suppress the industry. The result of the decision is that, in the exceptional case where a special rate of wages is set in advance of the prescribed rate, the Administrator may do what, in the generality of cases, he may not do. This circumstance gave one of the judges below so much trouble that he was willing to hold, in the teeth of § 6, that the Administrator might in all cases make such orders as that here in question. Thus, instead of writing in additional provisions in § 8 (f), as does this court, he was prepared to write in a new provision in § 6 to make the Act a complete and logical statute.
We have, then, this situation: With respect to any industry which has not been taken out of the provisions of § 6 by an industry committee’s report and an Administrator’s order, the Administrator cannot forbid home work. As respects an industry in which wages have been fixed by a committee, the Administrator has these sweep*274ing and destructive powers. And this, in spite of the fact that the committee is authorized and required to deal with the wages of the industry as a whole, and did so deal with them here. The committee never considered the question of an appropriate wage for the industry, under the conditions which would prevail, after the suppression of a substantial part of it by the Administrator’s order. The interpretation now sanctioned of the Administrator’s statutory authority to make orders “to prevent the circumvention or evasion” of the purposes of the Act, as including the power to make over the industry to which a wage order is to apply, thus defeats one of the most fundamental purposes of the Act. By § 8 no wage order is to be promulgated with respect to an industry unless the question of the minimum wage for the industry has been referred by the Administrator to the industry committee, and the conditions in the industry and the appropriate wage for it have been the subjects of investigation and report by the committee. The committee is specifically enjoined to recommend to the Administrator “the highest minimum wage rates for the industry which it determines, having due regard to economic and competitive conditions, will not substantially curtail employment in the industry.” And by § 8 (d) the Administrator, before he promulgates a wage order, is required to find, after “taking into consideration the same factors as are required to be considered by the industry committee,” that its recommendations will carry out the purpose of § 8. These requirements make it clear that the terms and conditions which § 8 permit the Administrator to attach to his wage orders do not include those which materially alter the conditions of the industry which must be considered and reported upon by the committee. Such requirements are futile if the Administrator, under guise of preventing evasion of a minimum wage order, which the committee has recommended, has power, on promulgating a wage *275order, to change the industry into one which the committee has never investigated. The Administrator’s action is in effect a subversion of the committee’s report, whereas the Act contemplates a resubmission to the committee in such a case. Opp Cotton Mills v. Administrator, 312 U. S. 126, 146-149.
Surely, if any such sweeping construction is to be given words having a narrower import, inquiry into the legislative history is of capital importance. That history, instead of being “wholly ambiguous” and furnishing a “dubious basis” for conflicting inferences, seems to me to be letter-clear.
The Presidential message urging enactment of this legislation states two objects: “To reduce the lag in the purchasing power of industrial workers” and to put an end to “the existence of child labor.” Both purposes were to be accomplished “without creating economic dislocation.”1 Pursuant to this recommendation, Senate Bill No. 2475 was introduced and a similar bill, H. R. 7200, was introduced in the House. Joint hearings were held by Senate and House committees. Senate Bill No. 2475 was reported to the Senate. Those in charge of it on the floor repeatedly stated that the purpose was to limit the bill strictly to minimum wages, maximum hours, and child labor. There is no question that many experts in the field felt that the prohibition of home work was essential to the accomplishment of the objective of the legislation. In the joint hearings, the Secretary of Labor testified that power should be given to the administrative authority to “prohibit entirely the use of industrial home work.”2 In this connection the Secretary also advised that the administrative powers to be granted should be carefully defined by the Congress so that the Act would clearly state *276them.3 The question of home work was again broached at the-hearings at various points. Notwithstanding this, the bill, as reported to the Senate, contained no provision for the prohibition of home work. The measure was debated at length in that body. As it then stood, § 9 (6), dealing with administrative orders, which became § 8 (f) in the bill as enacted, provided that an order might contain terms and conditions the administrative authority should find necessary to carry out the purposes of the order to prevent circumvention or evasion, or to “safeguard the fair labor standards therein established.” It will be seen that this language is not materially different in meaning from that finally embodied in § 8 (f). An amendment was proposed from the floor to add the words “including the restriction or prohibition of industrial home work” and was agreed to.
In order to expedite the adoption of the legislation, the House Committee limited its consideration to the bill passed by the Senate and reported it favorably with amendments. Without detailing the House proceedings, it is enough to say that ultimately a bill was presented largely embodying the provisions of Senate Bill No. 2475 but creating an administrator in lieu of a board. Section 9 (6), which related to wage orders, contained the same provisions respecting prohibition of home work as the Senate bill.4
The objections to the Senate bill in the House were such that a new measure was reported establishing fixed minimum wages and maximum hours and granting the Secretary of Labor only the power to declare that a particular industry was “an industry affecting commerce” and so subject to the Act. It contained no provision for administrative orders. During debate on this proposed *277bill a substitute was presented containing a section relating to wage orders, with provisions respecting home work the same as were contained in the Senate bill as passed and in the substitute theretofore offered to the House. The bill thus offered was rejected and the newly reported House bill was passed. Conferees were appointed amongst whom were the Senator who had first proposed the amendment respecting orders prohibiting home work and two of the Representatives who had presented bills containing similar provisions. The Conference Committee deliberated for a matter of twelve days and evidently gave the most meticulous care to each section of each of the bills before it. It in effect rewrote the measure. The Conference Report shows that the committee adopted the theory of the House bill fixing definite minimum standard wages to step up periodically in the future and also, as respects industry committees and interim orders based on industry committees’ reports, adopted the more flexible system embodied in the Senate bill.
It is clear that in redrafting § 8 (f), which was § 9 (6) of the Senate bill, the conferees consciously and deliberately rejected the clause “including the restriction or prohibition of industrial home work or of such other acts or practices.” The Conference Report was accepted, the bill passed both houses, and was signed by the President.
The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor recognized that it had no power to abolish home work. In its First Annual Report, that Division stated (p. 14) that it was treating home workers as employes and not as independent contractors. In the same report (p. 31) the Division went into detail with respect to regulations for record keeping in respect of home work. At page 46, the Division said: “A difficult problem which has required the use of special inspectors and special techniques is that of industrial homework. It has been necessary to make elaborate and time-consuming investigations at the *278establishment of the employer and in the homes of the workers.” That Division cooperated in the drafting of a bill (H. R. 5435)5 introduced by Representative Norton of the Labor Committee, which provided, inter alia: “The Administrator shall have power to make, issue, amend, and rescind such regulations and orders as are necessary or appropriate to carry out any of the provisions of this Act. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, such regulations and orders may . . . make special provision with respect to, including the restriction of, home work subject to this Act to the extent necessary to safeguard the minimum standards provided in this Act or in any regulation or order issued pursuant thereto, . . .” The proposed amendment was debated at length and was defeated. With respect to it Representative Norton said:6
“I am sure that business would be less jittery about this law if the Administrator had the right to define the application of the law. Without this amendment he may not do so and some business has suffered as a result. I believe that he further needs the power to define technical and trade terms used in the act and the power to make special provisions with respect to industrial home work and make special provision for constant-wage plans consistent with section 7 relating to hours of work. Home work has long been a blot on the economic picture of this country, and I regret to say that in some cases employers have resorted to this means of employment to escape the provisions of this law.”
Again she stated to the House:7
“. . . we are proposing in section 4 of H. R. 5435 to authorize the Administrator to make rules and regulations to carry out any of the provisions of the act. This section *279will also give him the right to define terms used in the act and make special provisions with respect to industrial home work.
“As the act is now written it is extremely doubtful whether the wage and hour standards which it establishes can be enforced as to industrial home workers. Under present practice in industrial home work industries, the Administrator is unable to secure proper records on wages and hours of home workers. Business concerns relying on home work for their labor do not ordinarily deal directly with the home workers but turn over the goods or articles on which the work is to be done to contractors who employ the home workers. If time permitted, I could give you concrete examples of cruelty in this field. Section 4 of the amendments would give the Administrator the necessary authority to cope with this situation.”
In the Annual Report of the Wage and Hour Division for 1940 industrial home work was discussed at page 89 and statements made as to the requirements of record keeping in respect of it.
After the Wage and Hour Act had become law it developed that if the prescribed minimum hourly wages were enforced in Puerto Rico certain industries there, which consisted almost entirely of home work, would be destroyed. It was believed that the only relief which would correct the situation would be to amend the statute to abrogate the fixed minima named in § 6 to provide for an industry committee to fix lower standard wages for industries consisting largely of home workers in the island. Such minima would be recommended by an industry committee and implemented by orders of the Administrator.8 The amendment was adopted in 1940. *280Far from indicating any thought on the part of Congress or the Division that the Administrator was empowered to ban home work, this legislation, taken in connection with the defeat of H. R. 5435, indicates quite clearly that no one concerned either in the passage or the administration of the law had any notion that the Administrator was authorized to deal with the economic problem involved in home work.
A section of the Wage and Hour Division’s Report for 1940 contained a discussion of enforcement of the Act with respect to home work, without any suggestion that the Administrator could deal with it by abolishing it. (p. 89)
In the Report for 1941 the Division, for the first time, suggested that the Administrator had been considering, in connection with wage orders, the question: “Must homework be abolished as one of the terms and conditions of a wage order in order to safeguard and effectuate enforcement of the order.” (p. 64)
Thus it appears that the Administrator, having failed to obtain explicit authority from Congress, began contemplating the effort to persuade the courts that he had implied authority in the premises.
In the Report for 1942 (p. 19) all that appears is the following :
“The problem of industrial homework has been one of the most important administrative questions since the inception of the Fair Labor Standards Act. For the guidance of the Administrator, the data were presented for the jewelry and knitted outerwear industries, showing conditions of industrial homework, the average earnings of homeworkers, the difficulties of enforcement of mlnimirm wage provisions for homeworkers, and the methods of evasion of minimum wage regulations by workers and employers.”
*281Though there was no declaration of a purpose to enter the sort of order now in question, it was, in fact, entered August 21, 1943.
In the Report for 1943, for the first time, Congress was apprised of action being taken (p. 19) thus:
“Enforcement measures established to protect the standards of the Act for factory employees have not been effective in controlling hours and wages of homeworkers. This failure prompted regulation of industrial homework under wage orders in industries in which homework is prevalent. These regulations are designed to protect factory employees against unfair wage competition.
“Industrial homework- in these industries is restricted to persons who are unable to adjust to factory work because of age or physical or mental disability or who are home-bound because of an invalid in the home and who have been engaged in the particular industry prior to a specified date. This latter requirement may be waived in unusual hardship cases. These restrictions were adopted after searching examination of the subject which included the opinions and convictions of representatives of management and labor. A total of 4,451 applications for industrial homework certificates have been received and 3,701 certificates have been granted.”
But, by that time, this case had been taken to the Circuit Court of Appeals to test the validity of the order here under review.
I would reverse the judgment.
The Chief Justice joins in this opinion.

 H. R. Report No. 1452, 75th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 6-7.

 Testimony at Joint Hearings, pp. 184, 190, 196, 197.

 Ibid., p. 195.

 82 Cong. Rec. 1511-1516, 1572-1577, 1580, 1585.

 First Annual Report, 1939, p. 160.

 84 Cong. Rec. 3498.

 86 Cong. Rec. 5122.

 See Annual Report, Wage and Hour Division, 1940, p. 113; Hearings Senate Committee on Appropriations, Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, 1941, p. 3; S. R. 1754, 76th Cong., 3d Sess., p. 5ff; H. R. No. 2186, 76th Cong., 3d Sess., p. 15.