Vermilya-brown Co., Inc. et al. v. Connell et al. (335 U.S. 377)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 6, 1948 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 335 U.S. 377 · 69 S. Ct. 140
- Docket
- No. 22
- Argued
- October 15, 1948
- Decided
- December 6, 1948
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Reed
- Issue area
- Unions
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Justice Douglas, Justice Reed (wrote), Justice Black, Justice Rutledge, Justice Murphy
- Dissenting
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson (wrote), Justice Frankfurter
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Reed delivered the opinion of the Court. This case brings before us for review the applicability of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 52 Stat. 1060, to employees allegedly engaged in commerce or the production of goods for commerce on a leasehold of the United States, located on the Crown Colony of Bermuda. The leasehold, a military base, was obtained by the United States through a lease executed by the British Government. This lease was the result of negotiations adequately summarized for consideration by the letters of the Marquess of Lothian, the British Ambassador to the United States, of date September 2, 1940; the reply of Mr. Cordell Hull, then our Secretary of State, of the same date; and the Agreement of March 27, 1941, between the two nations to further effectuate the declarations of the Ambassador in his letter. The Fair Labor Standards Act covers commerce “among the several States or from any State to any place outside thereof.” State means “any State of the United States or the District of Columbia or any Territory or possession of the United States.” § 3 (b) and (c) of the Act. Certain employees of contractors who had contracts for work for the United States on the Bermuda base brought this suit under § 16 (b) of the Act for recovery of unpaid overtime compensation ¿nd damages, claimed to be due them for the employer’s violation of § 7, requiring…
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