WAGE and HOUR INSPECTION
FEDEDAl WAGE-HOUR DIVISION TO INSPECT
A ll CIGARETTE VENDING MACHINE OPERATORS
LL operators of cigarette
vending machines in the
United States will be
called on Soon by inspectors of
the Wage and Hour Division,
U. S. Department of Labor, to
determine w heth er they are
complying with the provisions
of the Fair Labor Standards Act
(Wage and Hour L a w ).
A
The law requires that em
ployees engaged in interstate
commerce or the production of
goods for interstate commerce,
unless specifically exempt by
statute, must be paid not less
than 30 cents an hour and not
less than one and a half times
(time and a half) their regular
rate of pay for all hours worked
beyond 40 in any single work
week. There is no limit on the
number of hours that may be
worked provided that overtime
is paid as required. The Wage
and Hour Division takes the
position that employees in the
vending machine industry gen
erally are subject to the Act.
D r i v e Begins N o v e m b e r 1
“ Our inspection drive will be
gin November 1,” said Baird
Snyder, Deputy Administrator,
Wage and Hour Division, U. S.
Department of Labor, in an
nouncing the drive. “ Our in
spectors will visit all concerns
employing vending machine ser
vice men. They will check com
pany records as to hours of
work and rates of pay of em
ployees for the past six months.
While in the past we have been
disposed to be reasonable in con
nection with minor or innocent
violations of the law, in the cur
rent drive the Division will refer
to its legal branch for appro
priate action any cases where
This is a special release received from the
Inform ation
Branch of the W a g e
Division, W as h in gto n ,
D . C .,
and H o u r
ca llin g
atten
tion of cig a re tte vending m achine operators
to the ind ustry-w id e cam pa ig n which w ill be
gin N o ve m b e r I.
wilful or flagrant violations are
found/’
Possible violations will in
clude failure to pay at least 30
cents an hour, failure to pay
overtime as required, employ
ment o f “ o p p re ssiv e child
labor,” shipment in interstate
commerce of goods produced or
handled contrary to the pro
visions of the Act, failure to
keep the required records, or
falsification of records.
Mr. Snyder expressed appre
ciation for the excellent cooper
ation extended to the Division
by the National Association of
Tobacco Distributors. He said :
“ During the last six months,
the Association has issued spe
cial bulletins to its members and
to other vending machine oper
ators advising them of the pro
visions of the law and urging
them to comply fully with Wage-
Hour standards.”
E x e m p t io n N o t U p h e l d
Some time ago, the National
Association of Tobacco Distrib
utors had suggested to the Divi
sion that employees of wholesale
distributors engaged in deliver
ing cigarettes for vending ma
chines located in retail stores,
replenishing machines, remov
ing the money from machines,
and making machine adjust
ments were exempt from the
wage and hour provisions of the
Fair Labor Standards Act, un
der Section 1 3 (a )(2 ) of the
52
AUTOM ATIC AGE
© International Arcade Museum
law. This section provides ex
emption from the wage and hour
provisions for “any employee
engaged in any retail or service
establishment, the greater part
of whose selling or servicing is
in intrastate commerce.” The
Division has held, however, that
employees of an establishment
w hich su p p lies cigarettes to
vending m ach in es and who
travel from one establishment to
another in one workweek do not
fall within the exemption re
quirements, nor does the Divi
sion feel that cigarette machine
service employees are employed
in a local retailing capacity or
as outside salesmen so as to en
title them to exemption under
the provisions of the law ex
empting such employees.
“ This, of course, is not the
first industry-wide, educational
campaign in which we have en
gaged,” said Mr. Snyder. “ Sim
ilar campaigns have been con
ducted in the canning industry,
lumber, textiles, shoe manufac
turing, and others. In the cig
arette machine field, specifically,
we have received a number of
complaints f r o m
employees
about excessive hours and low
pay. When our inspectors find
full compliance with all the pro
visions of the law in the six
months preceding the date of
the inspection, this compliance
will be taken as evidence of good
faith on the part of the em
ployer. But where we find fla
grant or complete disregard for
the legal standards, we will
check records back to October,
1938, when the Act first went
, into effect, and will ask that full
payment be made to employees
of the difference between the
wages they have actually re
ceived and what they should
have received in accordance
with the law.”
Mr. Snyder quoted
letter
addressed to all cigarette vend
ing machine operators by the
National Association:
“ In our opinion,” it said, “the
interest of vending m achine
October, 1941
http://www.arcade-m useum .com/