West v. Egan

• Decision Date: 07 June 1955
• Citation: 115 A.2d 322,142 Conn. 437
• Parties: Bernard WEST et al. v. John J. EGAN, Labor Commissioner. Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court

Page 322

115 A.2d 322

142 Conn. 437

Bernard WEST et al. v. John J. EGAN, Labor Commissioner.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

June 7, 1955.

Milton M. Koskoff, Plainville, for appellants (plaintiffs).

Raymond J. Cannon, Asst. Atty. Gen., with whom, on the brief, was John J. Bracken, Atty. Gen., for appellee (defendant).

Before INGLIS, C. J., and BALDWIN, O'SULLIVAN, WYNNE and DALY, JJ.

BALDWIN, Justice.

The plaintiffs appealed to the Superior Court, under General Statutes, Cum.Sup.1953, § 1532c, from the action of the defendant labor commissioner in establishing a regulation under the minimum wage law. General Statutes, c. 180. The court found the issues for the defendant and ordered judgment dismissing the appeal of the plaintiffs. They have appealed from this judgment.

The facts found by the trial, with certain warranted corrections, may be stated in brief as follows: On December 31, 1951, the plaintiffs were engaged in the restaurant business in Plainville. They paid no wages to their waiters and waitresses but allowed them to retain for their services the tips they received from patrons. The amount of these tips exceeded the minimum of seventy-five cents per hour of employment prescribed by law. General Statutes, Cum.Sup.1953, § 1528c(i). On December 31, 1951, the defendant, acting pursuant to Cum.Sup.1953, § 1537c, ¹ publied the following regulation: 'Allowance for gratuities as part of the minimum fair wage shall not exceed 30 cents per hour for hotel and restaurant industries or not more than 15 cents per hour for employees in any other industry in which it can be established that gratuities have, prior to the effective date of [§ 1537c of the 1953] supplement to the General Statutes, customarily and usually constituted and been recognized as part of the employee's remuneration for hiring purposes for the particular employment. Gratuities received in excess of the amount specified herein as allowable need not be reported or recorded for the purposes of this regulation. The wage paid to each employee shall be at least 75 [cents] per hour for each hour worked, which may include gratuities not to exceed the limitation herein set forth provided all conditions herein set forth are met.' As a result of the regulation, the plaintiffs are required to pay their waiters and waitresses forty-five cents per hour in addition to the tips they receive. Before publishing the regulation, the defendant, as required by § 1537c, consulted with a board representing employers and employees in the restaurant industry and the general public. Allowances for gratuities were fully discussed at the meetings of the board and at a subsequent public hearing held by the defendant. He consulted with the board and determined that thirty cents per hour should be allowed for gratuities received by service employees in the restaurant and hotel industries for incorporation in the fair minimum wage for such employees at set forth in the regulations.

The court concluded that the statute and the regulation did not violate constitutional principles and that the regulation was lawfully adopted and was not arbitrary or unreasonable. The plaintiffs challenge these conclusions. The defendant filed in the Superior Court a transcript of the entire record of the proceedings for the making of the regulation, and this record is before the court on appeal.

The defendant claims that the plaintiffs cannot, in an appeal taken pursuant to § 1532c, challenge the constitutionality of the law and the regulation adopted by virtue of it. It is true, generally, that a party cannot avail himself of an appeal as provided for by a statute and in the same proceeding attack the constitutionality of the statute. Strain v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 137 Conn. 36, 38, 74 A.2d 462, and cases cited. The taking of such an appeal, however, would not preclude him from raising the constitutional issue in an independent proceeding. Gionfriddo v. Windsor; 137 Conn. 701, 703, 81 A.2d 266. This question of procedure was not raised or considered in the trial court. See Biz v. Liquor Control Commission, 133 Conn. 556, 557, 558, 53 A.2d 655. Since the issue of constitutionality is presented and the case was tried below on that issue, and since the public interest is involved, we will decide the question. Ruppert v. Liquor Control Commission, 138 Conn. 669, 673, 88 A.2d 388; Armstrong v. Hartford, 138 Conn. 545, 549, 86 A.2d 489.

The plaintiffs claim that the minimum wage law, particularly § 1537c, is constitutionally invalid because it is an illegal delegation of legislative power to the labor commissioner, is uncertain and indefinite in its terms, and violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution. 'When the constitutionality of legislation is in question, it is the duty of the court to sustain it unless its invalidity is beyond a reasonable doubt.' Amsel v. Brooks, 141 Conn. 288, 294, 103 A.2d 152, 156, and cases cited. This is due to a proper regard for the limited authority of the judicial department of the government to interfere with a determination made by the legislature as to how best to serve the public welfare. Lyman v. Adorno, 133 Conn. 511, 514, 52 A.2d 702. The primary purpose of the minimum wage law is to require the payment of fair and just wages. Attruia v. Attruia, 140 Conn. 73, 77, 98 A.2d 532. Like our workmen's compensation and unemployment compensation laws, the minimum wage law should receive a liberal construction in order that it may accomplish its purpose. Powers v. Hotel Bond Co., 89 Conn. 143, 146, 93 A. 245; Acquarulo v. Botwinik Bros., Inc., 139 Conn. 684, 687, 96 A.2d 752; Waterbury Savings Bank v. Danaher, 128 Conn. 78, 82, 20 A.2d 455; New Haven Market Exchange, Inc., v. Administrator, 139 Conn. 709, 712, 97 A.2d 262. Legislation designed to accomplish a particular purpose may authorize an administrative agency to provide the details of the operation of the statute through rules and regulations made and promulgated by the agency. This delegation of power is proper if the statute declares a legislative policy, establishes primary standards for carrying it out, or lays down an intelligible principle to which the agency must conform, with a proper regard for the protection of the public interests and with such degree of certainty as the nature of the case permits, and enjoins a procedure under which, by appeal or otherwise, both public interests and private rights shall have due consideration. State v. Stoddard, 126 Conn. 623, 628, 13 A.2d 586; Len-Lew Realty Co. v. Falsey, 141 Conn. 524, 527, 529, 107 A.2d 403; see Keating v. Patterson, 132 Conn. 210, 216, 43 A.2d 659. The plaintiffs properly insist that the statutes and regulation here involved be tested by this rule.

The legislative policy of the minimum wage law is to establish 'a wage fairly and reasonably commensurate with the value of a particular service or class of service rendered'. Cum.Sup.1953, § 1528c(c). In fixing a fair wage, the labor commissioner and the wage board established pursuant to the statutes are to take into account all relevant circumstances affecting the value of the services rendered, including hours and conditions of employment affecting the health, safety and general well-being of the workers, what such services are reasonably worth, and what is paid by other employers for services of a like or comparable nature, subject to certain specified exceptions. § 1528c(c). The minimum wage fixed cannot be less than seventy-five cents per hour. § 1528c(i). These statements of policy and standards are as definite and certain as the nature of the situation permits. We conclude that the statute of which the plaintiffs complain does not illegally delegate legislative power. State v. Vachon, 140 Conn. 478, 482, 101 A.2d 509. Furthermore, the statute and the regulation purport to act in a field appropriate to the reasonable exercise of the police power by the state, and they do so in a manner that does not contravene constitutional principles of due process or equal protection of the laws. United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100, 125, 61 S.Ct. 451, 85 L.Ed. 609; see Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261 U.S. 525, 563, 43 S.Ct. 394, 67 L.Ed. 785 (dissenting opinion).

The plaintiffs contend that tips are wages and that the total amounts received by employees should be considered in any determination of whether they are receiving for their services less than the minimum wage. The plaintiffs contend, further, that the regulation allowing gratuities to be considered as part of the fair minimum wage to the extent only of thirty cents per hour for hotel and restaurant workers is unreasonable. The act states that 'wages' shall mean 'compensation due to an employee by reason of his employment'. § 1528c(h). We have said that "wages' ordinarily mean the compensation paid to a hired person for labor or services'; Berlin Iron Bridge Co. v. Connecticut River Banking Co., 76 Conn. 477, 482, 57 A. 275, 276; and also, that they are 'compensation for labor.' Walsh v. Bridgeport, 88 Conn. 528, 526, 91 A. 969, 972. Section 1537c(b) provides that the regulations may recognize 'gratuities' as part of the minimum fair wage. The question we have to answer does not turn upon whether tips are wages. Tips are gratuities. Webster's New International Dictionary (2d Ed.). It is not for the court to determine whether, from the viewpoint of social welfare, gratuities should be included as part of the legal wage. Williams v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., 315 U.S. 386, 388, 62 S.Ct. 659, 86 L.Ed. 914. The legislature has...