Court Opinion

ID: 9419787
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:51:28.582179+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:20.617140
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Douglas,
dissenting.
I agree that these employees would be covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act but for the exemption contained in § 13 (b) (1). That subsection exempts from § 7 of the Act “any employee with respect to whom the Interstate Commerce Commission has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act, 1935 . . .”
There is no doubt that the Interstate Commerce Commission has the power to establish qualifications and maximum hours for employees of a carrier who are mechanics engaged in greasing, repairing, servicing, and maintaining its transportation equipment. In the Matter of Maximum Hours of Service of Motor Carrier Employees, 28 M. C. C. 125. I think that power would still exist if the carrier separately incorporated its garage. This affiliated garage is not like an independent commercial garage. It is still a part of the carrier’s business — no more separate or distinct than any other department. The same people own it, operate it, and manage it. If the Interstate Commerce Commission, acting under § 204 of the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, had undertaken to establish the quali*473fications and maximum hours for these mechanics, I cannot believe that we would allow its jurisdiction to be defeated by that device, whatever may have been the reason for the separate incorporation of the garage. For these mechanics were, in the practical sense, employees of the carrier after, as well as before, incorporation. And the exemption contained in § 13 (b) (1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act is dependent, not on the exercise by the Interstate Commerce Commission of its power, but on. the existence of that power.1 The power which Congress granted the Interstate Commerce Commission to establish qualifications and maximum hours for mechanics should not be allowed to be defeated by arrangements between parties which, for certain purposes, may estop them from asserting that two corporations in form are one in substance.
This particular exemption may not be a wise one. But we must take the law as it is written. The policy behind the exemption is defeated, if mere legal forms are allowed to nullify the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission to deal with the problem of safety. As the Commission said, . . the carefully supervised work of skilled mechanics is a most important factor in the prevention of accidents, and therefore in the promotion of highway safety.” In the Matter of Maximum Hours of Service of Motor Carrier Employees, supra, p. 133. We should refuse to whittle down that jurisdiction, even though we thought that the public interest would be better served by broadening the coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Mr. Justice Frankfurter and Mr. Justice Rutledge. join in this dissent.

 To date the Commibsion has prescribed qualifications and maximum hours only for drivers. See 49 Code Fed. Reg., Cum. Supp. (1944) Parts 191,192.