Saxton v. WS Askew Co., 51.
| Decision Date | 04 November 1940 |
| Docket Number | No. 51.,51. |
| Citation | 35 F. Supp. 519 |
| Parties | SAXTON v. W. S. ASKEW CO. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia |
A. W. Touchton and Myer Goldberg, both of Newnan, Ga., for plaintiff.
Jones & Atkinson, of Newnan, Ga., for defendant.
Plaintiff filed a complaint against defendant "in his own behalf and in behalf of all the former and the present employees of the defendant company to whom there is due any sum or sums whatever for unpaid minimum wages, and unpaid overtime compensation, growing out of their employment by defendant between the twenty-fourth day of October, 1938, and the third day of July, 1940, to recover for himself and for each of said present and former employees all such unpaid minimum wages and unpaid overtime compensation, together with additional equal amounts as liquidated damages, reasonable compensation for plaintiff's attorney, and costs, under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq."
It is alleged that at all times within the period above set forth defendant was engaged in the production of lumber in interstate commerce, and that during the work weeks beginning October 24, 1938 and ending July 3, 1940 defendant employed "plaintiff and a great number of other men" in interstate commerce "there being an average of fifty or more men so employed," and failed to compensate them at the statutory rate "but has paid them at rates not in excess of twenty cents an hour, and in many instances not in excess of twelve and one-half cents an hour."
That during said time plaintiff and defendant's other employees were required to work longer than the hours provided by statute, for which defendant failed to compensate them at the rate of time and a half for overtime, but required its employees to work as much as seventy-eight hours a week without any compensation for the excess hours. That defendant is therefore indebted to plaintiff and to "each of its other former and present employees in various large sums of money, the alleged requisite details and amounts being peculiarly within the knowledge of defendant." It is prayed that the plaintiff "and each of the former and present employees of defendant" do recover the sum of $1,000, and the amount found to be due each under the provisions of the Act, together with liquidated damages and attorney's fees for plaintiff's attorney.
Defendant filed a motion for a more definite statement and for a bill of particulars, asserting the complaint to be defective in that it does not inform defendant by whom it is being sued, other than the plaintiff; that it does not show by what right or authority plaintiff brings the complaint and asserts no contention that he has been designated by any of the other employees to maintain the action for them, nor does it set out what amount is being sued for by plaintiff and the other parties sought to be named, and whether suit is brought for unpaid minimum wages or unpaid overtime compensation; and that defendant is entitled to know when and to whom it is sought to apply the allegations as to nonpayment and overtime work.
The only serious question presented is with reference to the parties, and the right of plaintiff to represent the other employees referred to. In passing the Fair Labor Standards Act, Congress provided three means to secure enforcement and compliance with its terms, viz.: (1) Prosecution criminally; (2) injunction to restrain violations of the Act; and (3) (with which the present case is concerned), imposition of liability to the extent of unpaid wages and unpaid overtime compensation, and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages. It provided that action to recover liability to employee or employees may be maintained "by any one or more employees for and in behalf of himself or themselves and other employees similarly situated, or such employee or employees may designate an agent or representative to maintain such action for and in behalf of all employees similarly situated." 29 U.S.C.A. § 216(b).
It seems a fair construction of the terms of the Act with reference to the ...
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