(a)The statutory provision. An employee is covered by the wage and hours provisions of the Act if he is engaged in the "production" (as explained in §§ 776.15 through 776.19 ) "for commerce" (as explained in § 776.21 ) of anything defined as "goods" in section 3(i) of the Act. This definition is: Goods means goods (including ships and marine equipment), wares, products, commodities, merchandise, or articles or subjects of commerce of any character, or any part or ingredient thereof, but does not include goods after their delivery into the actual physical possession of the ultimate consumer thereof other than a producer, manufacturer, or processor thereof.
(c)"Any part or ingredient." Section 3(i) draws no distinction between goods and their ingredients and in fact defines goods to mean "goods" * * * or any part or ingredient thereof." The fact that goods are processed or changed in form by several employers before going into interstate or foreign commerce does not affect the character of the original product as "goods" produced for commerce. Thus, if a garment manufacturer sends goods to an independent contractor within the State to have them sewn, after which he further processes and ships them in interstate commerce, the division of the production functions between the two employees does not alter the fact that the employees of the independent contractor are actually producing ("working on") the "goods" (parts or ingredients of goods) which enter the channels of commerce.Similarly, if a manufacturer of buttons sells his products within the State to a manufacturer of shirts, who ships the shirts in interstate commerce, the employees of the button manufacturer would be engaged in the production of goods for commerce; or, if a lumber manufacturer sells his lumber locally to a furniture manufacturer who sells furniture in interstate commerce, the employees of the lumber manufacturer would likewise come within the scope of the Act. Any employee who is engaged in the "production" (as explained in § 776.15 ) of any part or ingredient of goods produced for trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or between any State and any place outside thereof is engaged in the production of "goods" for commerce within the meaning of the Act.
Roland Electrical Co. v. Walling, 326 U.S. 657 ; Bracy v. Luray, 138 F. 2d 8 (C.A. 4); Walling v. W. J. Haden Co., 153 F. 2d 196 (C.A. 5); Mid-Continent Pipe Line Co. v. Hargrave, 129 F. 2d 655 (C.A. 10); Boiling v. Allison, 4 W. H. Cases 500 (N.D. Okla.); Hanson v. Lagerstrom, 133 F. 2d 120 (C.A. 8); Walling v. Comet Carriers, 151 F. 2d 107 (C.A. 2); Walling v. Griffin Cartage Co., 62 F. Supp. 396, affirmed in 153 F. 2d 587 (C.A. 6); Walling v. Kerr, 47 F. Supp. 852 (E.D. Pa.).