G.O. Miller Telephone Company v. Minimum Wage Commission

• Decision Date: 19 March 1920
• Docket Number: 21,785
• Citation: 177 N.W. 341,145 Minn. 262
• Parties: G.O. MILLER TELEPHONE COMPANY AND OTHERS v. MINIMUM WAGE COMMISSION AND OTHERS
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

177 N.W. 341

145 Minn. 262

G.O. MILLER TELEPHONE COMPANY AND OTHERS v. MINIMUM WAGE COMMISSION AND OTHERS

No. 21,785

Supreme Court of Minnesota

March 19, 1920

Action in the district court for Goodhue county to declare void two orders of the Minimum Wage Commission and to restrain defendants from attempting to enforce them, either by criminal prosecution or by the institution of civil actions against plaintiff or others similarly situated. The McLeod Telephone Company and Stott & Son filed complaints in intervention. From an order, Johnson, J., granting plaintiff's motion for a temporary injunction, defendants appealed. Reversed.

SYLLABUS

Minimum wage of women -- injunction against orders of commission.

1. The defendant Minimum Wage Commission made two orders, one quoted in the opinion, fixing the minimum wages of women and minors, and the other, referred to in the opinion, fixing the wages of learners and apprentices. This action was brought by an employer to restrain the commission from putting the orders into effect. An order for a temporary injunction was made upon the pleadings from which the defendant appeals.

Construction of minimum wage statute.

2. The minimum wage statute intends that the minimum rates of wages which the commission is authorized to fix, shall be based on occupations, and it does not authorize a blanket minimum for women or for minors operative upon all, without reference to wage conditions in the different occupations. It intends an investigation and a determination of wage conditions in the particular occupations to which the minimum rates are made applicable.

Authority to fix minimum wage conditional.

3. The commission is authorized to establish legal minimum rates of wages if "after investigation of any occupation the commission is of opinion that the wages paid to one-sixth or more of the women or minors employed therein are less than living wages." The authority to fix a minimum is not given when upon an investigation the commission is of the opinion that one-sixth of the total women workers, or of the total minor workers, employed in the state are receiving less than a living wage. There must be one-sixth or more receiving less than a living wage in the particular occupation to which the order is made applicable.

Recital in order aided by allegations of answer.

4. The order of the commission recited that it was "of the opinion that the wages paid to one-sixth or more of the women and minors employed in this state are less than living wages." The opinion recited did not authorize the fixing of a minimum wage. The statute, however, does not require that the order fixing the minimum shall contain a recital or finding that the required one-sixth is receiving less than a living wage. The answer alleged an investigation by the commission, as a result of which it was of the opinion that one-sixth of the women workers and one-sixth of the minor workers in each occupation in the state, including those within the class employed by the plaintiff, were receiving less than a living wage. The order is not invalid because of the recital nor is the commission concluded by it, and under the allegation of the answer the order is valid.

Recital in order aided by allegations of answer. -- wages of women and minors may be the same.

5. The statute intends a separate investigation and determination for women and minors. The minimum wage may be the same for each or it may be different. The order is not invalid because it fixes the same minimum for both.

Adoption of basic work week not a fixing of hours of labor.

6. The order fixes the minimum wage for a work week of 48 hours, which it adopts as the basic week for the purpose of fixing a minimum, and provides for an increase for each hour in excess. The commission has no authority to fix hours of labor and the order does not do so. It adopts 48 hours as the basic work week for fixing the minimum wage, and it is not invalid because it allows an addition to the minimum for each hour in excess of the basic 48 hour week.

Order not applicable to servant's avocation.

7. The order requires the payment of the prescribed minimum for a period of labor not to exceed 48 hours per week. It does not require the payment of the weekly minimum when the employee does not devote his time to the earning of a living wage, but in connection with another calling or with no calling works a few hours per day or a few hours per week or renders intermittent service. The statute does not apply to such a situation.

Order not invalidated by distinction between larger and smaller cities.

8. The order is not invalid, because in fixing the minimum wage a distinction is made between cities of 5,000 inhabitants or more and cities of less than 5,000. The statute contemplates that because of differences in living cost the minimum may not be uniform throughout the state.

Classification of learners and apprentices.

9. The order fixing the minimum for learners and apprentices is not invalid, because it fixes a different minimum for successive periods of service during the period of learning or apprenticeship, nor because of the classification which it makes.

Minimum Wage Commission -- review of injunction against its order.

10. The Minimum Wage Commission is an administrative body to which neither legislative nor judicial powers are delegated. In a review by injunction of its orders the court is limited to a review of such as are made without jurisdiction or under a mistaken interpretation of the law or which are so arbitrary or unreasonable as to deprive one of the guaranteed protection of his property rights.

Clifford L. Hilton, Attorney General, and James E. Markham, Assistant Attorney General, for appellants.

Brown, Abbott & Somsen, O'Brien, Young, Stone & Horn and A. J. Rockne, for respondents.

OPINION

DIBELL, J.

1. This is an action to restrain the Minimum Wage Commission from putting in force two orders issued July 5, 1919, fixing minimum wages, known as orders number 10 and number 11. The McLeod Telephone Company and Stott & Son intervened and filed complaints. The defendant answered and the plaintiff replied. No affidavits were filed. Upon the pleadings an order for a temporary injunction was made. The defendant appeals.

Order number 10 is as follows:

"Order No. 10, fixing the minimum wage for women and minors of ordinary ability.

"Whereas, the Minimum Wage Commission of the State of Minnesota, under and by virtue of the authority vested in it by the provisions of chapter 547, General Laws of Minnesota for 1913, and after due investigation, being of the opinion that the wages paid to one-sixth or more of the women and minors employed in this state are less than living wages; and

"Whereas the said Commission has further found and determined and does hereby find and determine that the number of hours per week which a person is customarily employed in performance of work for her or his employer has a direct and substantial bearing on the minimum amount which such person needs and requires as a living wage, in that a person whose time and energy is not substantially consumed in the doing of the work for which she or he is employed may and can do for herself or himself many things which would and do reduce the money cost of living of such person; and

"Whereas, the Commission has found and determined and does hereby find and determine that the cost of living in cities, villages and boroughs having a population of 5,000 or more is greater than in municipalities of less than 5,000 population; and

"Whereas, the said Commission has found and determined and does hereby find and determine that a week of not to exceed forty-eight (48) hours of work constitutes a general and reasonable weekly standard of employment in this state, for women and minors of ordinary ability; and

"Whereas, the said Commission has found and determined and does hereby find and determine that the minimum wages sufficient for living wages for women and minors of ordinary ability, in any occupation, working not to exceed forty-eight (48) hours per week, in any city, village or borough in this state having a population of 5,000 or more inhabitants, is the sum of Eleven ($11) Dollars per week and that where any such person in any such municipality is ordinarily employed for more than Forty-eight (48) hours per week, then and in such case the minimum weekly wages sufficient for living wages for any such person is found and determined to be the sum of Eleven ($11) Dollars plus Twenty-three (23) Cents per hour for each hour such person is customarily employed in excess of Forty-eight (48) hours per week; and

"Whereas, the said Commission has found and determined and does hereby find and determine that the minimum wages sufficient for living wages for women and minors of ordinary ability, in any occupation, working not to exceed Forty-eight (48) hours per week, at or in any place other than a city, village or borough having 5,000 or more inhabitants, is the sum of Ten and 25/100 ($10.25) Dollars per week and that where any such person, in any such place, is ordinarily employed for more than Forty-eight (48) hours per week, then and in such case the minimum weekly wages sufficient for living wages for any such person is found and determined to be the sum of Ten and 25/100 ($10.25) Dollars plus Twenty-one and one-half (21 1/2) Cents per hour for each hour such person is customarily employed in excess of Forty-eight (48) hours per week.

"Now, therefore it is hereby ordered that:

"The respective wages above set forth and determined be, and they are hereby declared to be the minimum wages which shall be paid to women and minors of ordinary ability, in any occupation, at the...