Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company v. Muscoda Local No. 123/Concurrence Frankfurter

by Felix Frankfurter

United States Supreme Court

321 U.S. 590

Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company  v.  Muscoda Local No. 123

 Argued: and Submitted Jan. 13, 14, 1944. --- Decided: March 27, 1944

Mr. Justice FRANKFURTER, concurring.

The legal question on the record before us lies within a narrow compass. Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act commands the payment of compensation at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the regular rate for every employee under the Statute who is engaged 'for a workweek' longer than forty-four or forty-two hours during the first or the second year, respectively, after the effective date of the Section and forty hours thereafter. 52 Stat. 1060, 1063, 29 U.S.C. § 207, 29 U.S.C.A. § 207. Congress did not explicitly define 'workweek' and there is nothing in the available materials pertinent to construction that warrants a finding that 'workweek', as applied to the workers in the iron ore industry, had so settled a meaning at the time of the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act as to be deemed incorporated by reference. As a result, 'workweek' in this Statute, as applied to workers in this industry and on this record, has no technical meaning, that is, a meaning so well known to those in this particular industry as to be applied by courts in enforcing the Statute when invoked by men in the industry. For purposes of this case, in any event, when Congress used the word 'workweek', it used it colloquially-the term carries merely the meaning of common understanding.

An administrative agency for preliminary adjudication of issues arising under the Wages and Hours Law, like that established by the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., was not provided by Congress. And so, the application of this colloquial concept 'workweek' to the multifarious situations in American industry was left by Congress for ascertainment by judicial proceedings. These facts are to be found either by a jury or, as in this case, by a judge sitting without a jury. And so here it was the judge's duty to determine what time and energy on the part of the employees involved in this suit constituted a 'workweek' of these employees of the petitioners. After a trial which lasted for about three weeks, during which testimony covering 2,643 pages was heard and voluminous exhibits were introduced, the District Court made its findings of fact. A judgment for the employees based on these findings was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals, D.C., 40 F.Supp. 4; 5 Cir., 135 F.2d 320.

We have then a judgment of two courts based on findings with ample evidence to warrant such findings. Affirmance by this Court is therefore demanded.

Notes