Powell et al. v. United States Cartridge Co. (339 U.S. 497)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 8, 1950 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 339 U.S. 497 · 70 S. Ct. 755
- Docket
- No. 96
- Argued
- December 8, 1949
- Decided
- May 8, 1950
- Term
- October Term 1949
- Vote
- 5–2
- Majority author
- Justice Burton
- Issue area
- Unions
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Minton, Justice Burton (wrote), Justice Reed, Justice Black
- Dissenting
- Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Frankfurter (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Burton delivered the opinion of the Court. The question in each of these cases is whether the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, applies to a person employed by a private contractor at a Government-owned munitions plant operated by the contractor under a cost-plus-a-fixed-fee contract made with the United States. We hold that the Act does apply but we do not reach the question of the validity of the individual claims based upon it. This issue was argued here in Kennedy v. Silas Mason Co., 334 U. S. 249. We, however, remanded that case and withheld decision of the issue, awaiting a.more solid basis of findings. Id. at p. 257. Each of the instant cases presents such a basis. No. 96 (The Powell Case). In December, 1940, the United States contracted with The United States Cartridge Company, respondent herein, as “an independent contractor and in no wise an agent of the Government” on a cost-plus-a-fixed-fee basis to operate the Government’s St. Louis Ordnance Plant in Missouri. The contract stated that it was authorized by the Act of July 2,1940. It provided that the respondent would operate the Government’s plant for the manufacture of certain types and quantities of small arms ammunition, that the Government would reimburse the respondent for its expenditures in such operation and, in addition, pay the respondent a fixed fee based upon the types and…
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