Calaf v. Gonzalez

• Decision Date: 08 May 1942
• Docket Number: No. 3748.,3748.
• Citation: 127 F.2d 934
• Parties: CALAF et al. v. GONZALEZ et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

127 F.2d 934 (1942)

CALAF et al. v. GONZALEZ et al.

No. 3748.

Circuit Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

May 8, 1942.

Nelson Gammans, of New York City (R. Rivera Zayas, Joaquin Velilla, and Orlando J. Antonsanti, all of San Juan, P. R., on the brief), for appellants.

Jaime J. Saldana, Guillerno Silva, and Geigel & Silva, all of San Juan, P. R., on the brief for appellees.

Before MAGRUDER, MAHONEY, and WOODBURY, Circuit Judges.

MAHONEY, Circuit Judge.

This case is here on appeal from a judgment of the District Court of Puerto Rico in favor of the plaintiffs, employees of the defendants, holding them entitled to be paid the difference between the wages actually received by them and the amount required by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 206, 216, hereinafter called the Act.

The facts in this case are simple and the parties are in substantial agreement as to them. The defendants own and operate jointly a sugar mill at Manati, Puerto Rico, hereinafter called the central or the mill, where sugar cane is processed into sugar and then shipped to the United States. The sugar cane thus processed into sugar is grown on farms owned jointly by defendants as well as on farms owned separately by each defendant and also on a farm owned by an independent colono. Defendants own and operate jointly a railroad system used in the transportation of sugar cane from the farms to the central. Sugar cane shipped to the mill is loaded on cars at the farms, then hauled to scales in front of the mill where it is weighed. The same cars and locomotives which carry the sugar cane to the scales are used to haul the sugar cane after weighing to a siding. From the siding the sugar cane is carried in the same cars but drawn by different engines to the mill proper.

All the plaintiffs herein involved worked for the defendants after October 24, 1938, the effective date of the application of the Act. The district court found that some of the plaintiffs were engaged in the operation, repair and maintenance of the transportation facilities of the defendants and that others worked at the mill. There is no dispute as to this finding. More specifically, these employees were engaged in the following types of work: messenger at the mill, construction and repair of rolling stock, fireman, brakeman on the locomotive, splitting wood for engines, repairing main railroad line, signaling at grade crossing, repairing of railroad carts and repairing of mill boilers. From the record it is clear that all the plaintiffs were employed by the central.

The defendants contend that the lower court erred in applying retrospectively the principle laid down in Bowie v. Gonzalez, 1 Cir., 117 F.2d 11, relating to coverage, for the reason that the district court in previous decisions rendered established a rule of property excluding said employees from the operation of the Act, and that, therefore, if said Act is applicable it should only be applied prospectively; that the lower court erred in holding transportation of sugar cane from defendants' farms to the mill was an activity subject to the provisions of the Act; that the lower court erred in holding that employees of the defendants engaged in the repair and maintenance of their transportation facilities were covered by the Act; and that the lower court erred in excluding certain testimony which defendants offered to introduce. The view we take of the case makes a consideration of this last contention unnecessary.

We dealt with the problem of coverage as it relates to certain phases of the Puerto Rican sugar industry in the Bowie case, supra, but the precise problem which gives us concern was expressly excluded from the scope of our opinion. We have no difficulty in holding that insofar as the employees are engaged in the transportation of sugar cane from the farm of the independent colono and are engaged in the repair and maintenance of the transportation facilities, they are covered by the Act. We have expressly so held. We are concerned, however, with the more difficult problem of whether the employees who are engaged in the transportation of sugar cane from the farms of the defendants, who are the joint owners of the farms, the mill and the railroad system, and the employees who are engaged in the repair and maintenance of such transportation facilities are covered by the Act. This precise issue has never been decided by us.

On the basis of the peculiar facts presented to us we might include all the employees herein involved under the protection of the Act without a determination of the particular problem of whether employees who carry sugar cane exclusively from their employers' farms to their employers' mill are covered by the Act. For instance, (1) some of the employees involved in the present suit are covered by the Act because they are engaged in the hauling of sugar cane from the farm of the independent colono; (2) some of the employees are engaged in operations at the mill and are clearly covered by the Act, and (3) in view of the fact that these employees not only carry sugar cane from the jointly owned farms but also from the farms owned severally by these defendants, it might be said that the rule laid down in the Bowie case, supra, as to the hauling of the sugar cane from the farms of the independent colonos is applicable here. The same cars that are used in the hauling of sugar cane from the joint farms and the same employees who operate and maintain these cars are involved in the hauling of sugar cane and the maintenance and operation of the cars which haul sugar cane from the severally owned farms. While evidence was offered to show that segregation of the sugar cane from the farm of the independent colono was possible, none was offered to show a similar possible segregation as regards the sugar cane carried from the several farms. In fact, a contention of the defendants is that the farms owned jointly and severally comprise a single unit. If we were disposed to place our decision upon this ground all of the employees would be covered because of the fact that segregation of employees and facilities in the transportation of sugar cane from the several farms and joint farms under these facts is impossible. We place our decision, however, on the broader ground that the transportation of sugar cane is incident to milling rather than to farming and therefore is not exempt under the Act.

The scheme of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is broad and comprehensive with the purpose of including all employees engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, except those specifically exempted. The Act is remedial in its nature and should be liberally construed and the exceptions to the coverage of the Act should be narrowly construed. See Bowie v. Gonzales, supra, 117 F.2d page 16; Fleming v. Palmer, 1 Cir., 123 F.2d 749, 762; Fleming v. Hawkeye Pearl Button Co., 8 Cir., 113 F.2d 52....