Walling v. United States (331 U.S. 17)/Dissent Murphy

by Fred M. Vinson

United States Supreme Court

331 U.S. 17

Walling  v.  United States

 Argued: Feb. 7, 10, 1947. --- Decided: April 14, 1947

Mr. Justice MURPHY, with whom Mr. Justice BLACK concurs, dissenting.

It is conceded that the weekly guaranty was sufficient to pay for 40 hours at the so-called 'regular basic rate' and for 44 additional hours at one and one-half times such 'basic hourly rate.' The contract overtime rate became effective only as to those hours of work in excess of 84. In other words, the 'regular basic rate' referred to in the contracts had no meaning or effect whatsoever unless the employee worked more than 84 hours in a week. Whether he worked 20 hours, 40 hours or 60 hours in a week, he was paid the guaranteed amount.

To square such a wage scheme with the plain requirements of § 7(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is impossible. Time and again this Court has made it clear that the regular rate of compensation upon which overtime payments are to be based is the hourly rate actually paid to the employee for the normal, non-overtime workweek for which he is employed. Overnight Motor Trans. Co. v. Missel, 316 U.S. 572, 580, 62 S.Ct. 1216, 1221, 86 L.Ed. 1682; Walling v. Helmerich & Payne, 323 U.S. 37, 40, 65 S.Ct. 11, 13, 89 L.Ed. 29; United States v. Rosenwasser, 323 U.S. 360, 363, 65 S.Ct. 295, 296, 89 L.Ed. 301; Walling v. Youngerman-Reynolds Hardwood Co., 325 U.S. 419, 424, 65 S.Ct. 1242, 1244, 1250, 89 L.Ed. 1705; Walling v. Harnischfeger Corp., 325 U.S. 427, 430, 65 S.Ct. 1246, 1248, 1250, 89 L.Ed. 1711. 'The regular rate by its very nature must reflect all payments which the parties have agreed shall be received regularly during the workweek, exclusive of overtime payments. It is not an arbitrary label chosen by the parties; it is an actual fact. Once the parties have decided upon the amount of wages and the mode of payment the determination of the regular rate becomes a matter of mathematical computation, the result of which is unaffected by any designation of a contrary 'regular rate' in the wage contracts.' Walling v. Youngerman-Reynolds Hardwood Co., supra, 325 U.S. at pages 424, 425, 65 S.Ct. at pages 1244, 1245, 89 L.Ed. 1705.

Our attention in this case must therefore be focused upon the actual payments, exclusive of those paid for overtime, which the parties have agreed shall be paid during each workweek. And when we do that, we discover that the parties have agreed that the employees shall receive the guaranteed amount, not the so-called 'regular basic rate.' That guaranteed amount is thus the regular rate for purposes of § 7(a) of the Act, the so-called 'regular basic rate' being an obviously artificial one.

It is said, however, that this scheme is sanctioned by Walling v. A. H. Belo Corp., 316 U.S. 624, 62 S.Ct. 1223, 86 L.Ed. 1716. That is true, but it does not justify continuance of the erroneous Belo doctrine. The Belo case has been distinguished in subsequent opinions of this Court, but the distinctions were essentially ones of fact. On the basis of legal and statutory theory, the Belo case is irreconcilable with the later cases. The Belo case, which carries its own refutation in its dissenting opinion, should therefore be overruled. Otherwise we shall be perpetuating and augmenting the unrealities and confusion which have marked the application of the doctrine of that case. See Feldman, 'Algebra and the Supreme Court,' 40 Ill.L.Rev. 489; 'Legality of Wage Readjustment Plans under the Overtime Provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act,' 13 U. of Chi.L.Rev. 486; 44 Mich.L.Rev. 866.

Notes