Maneja et al. v. Waialua Agricultural Co., LTD. (349 U.S. 254)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 23, 1955 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 349 U.S. 254 · 75 S. Ct. 719
- Decided
- May 23, 1955
- Term
- October Term 1954
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Clark
- Issue area
- Unions
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Clark delivered the opinion of the Court. This case involves, primarily, the coverage of the agriculture exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 52 Stat. 1060, as amended, 29 U. S. C. § 201 et seq. The petitioners are 31 employees of respondent corporation, which is engaged in the growing, harvesting and processing of sugar cane at its plantation in the Territory of Hawaii. Respondent seeks a declaratory judgment that its operations are exempt from the overtime provisions of the Act, while the petitioners, through a counterclaim under § 16 (b) of the Act, seek to recover unpaid overtime compensation. The action pertains only to work performed between November 20, 1946, and September 14, 1947. Waialua owns and operates what might be called the agricultural analogue of the modern industrial assembly line. On its plantation, consisting of some ten thousand acres of land, it cultivates sugar cane which it processes into raw sugar and molasses. It utilizes the year-round growing season to produce a steady supply of cane and employs in its operations over a thousand persons, many at specialized tasks. Some move from field to field preparing the soil, fertilizing, planting seed or cultivating. Others attend to the irrigation of the fields. As the cane crop matures, crews of employees move in with mechanical cane harvesters that cut and throw the cane into…
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