Alstate Construction Co. v. Durkin, Secretary of Labor (345 U.S. 13)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 9, 1953 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 345 U.S. 13 · 73 S. Ct. 565
- Docket
- No. 296
- Argued
- February 2, 1953
- Decided
- March 9, 1953
- Term
- October Term 1952
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Black
- Issue area
- Unions
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Minton, Justice Clark, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Reed, Justice Black (wrote)
- Dissenting
- Justice Douglas (wrote), Justice Frankfurter
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Black delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 7 (a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay each employee covered by the Act not less than one and one-half times his regular pay rate for every hour worked in excess of a forty-hour week; § 11 (c) requires employers to keep appropriate employment records. Employees covered are defined as those “engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce.” We have held that employees repairing interstate roads or railroads are “engaged in commerce” within the meaning of that clause of § 7 (a). The question presented in this case is whether employees who work off such roads in the production of materials to repair them are engaged “in the production of goods for commerce” within the meaning of § 7 (a). The Wage and Hour Administrator sued in District Court to enjoin the petitioner Alstate Construction Company from violating the overtime and record-keeping provisions of the Act. The District Court found: Al-state is a Pennsylvania road contractor that reconstructs and repairs roads, railroads, parkways and like facilities in that state. The company also manufactures at three Pennsylvania plants a bituminous concrete road surfacing mixture called amesite made from materials either bought or quarried in Pennsylvania. Most of it is applied to Pennsylvania roads either by Alstate’s own employees or…
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