[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR782.1]

[Page 631-632]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 782_EXEMPTION FROM MAXIMUM HOURS PROVISIONS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES OF 
MOTOR CARRIERS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 782.1  Statutory provisions considered.

    (a) Section 13(b)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act provides an 
exemption from the maximum hours and overtime requirements of section 7 
of the act, but not from the minimum wage requirements of section 6. The 
exemption is applicable to any employee with respect to whom the 
Secretary of Transportation has power to establish qualifications and 
maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section 204 of 
the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, (part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, 
49 Stat. 546, as amended; 49 U.S.C. 304, as amended by Pub. L. 89-670, 
section 8e which substituted ``Secretary of Transportation'' for 
``Interstate Commerce Commission''--Oct. 15, 1966) except that the 
exemption is not applicable to any employee with respect to whom the 
Secretary of Transportation has power to establish qualifications and 
maximum hours of service solely by virtue of section 204(a)(3a) of part 
II of the Interstate Commerce Act. (Pub. L. 939, 84th Cong., second 
sess., Aug. 3, 1956, secs. 2 and 3) The Fair Labor Standards Act confers 
no authority on the Secretary of Labor or the Administrator to extend or 
restrict

[[Page 632]]

the scope of this exemption. It is settled by decisions of the U.S. 
Supreme Court that the applicability of the exemption to an employee 
otherwise entitled to the benefits of the Fair Labor Standards Act is 
determined exclusively by the existence of the power conferred under 
section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act to establish qualifications and 
maximum hours of service with respect to him. It is not material whether 
such qualifications and maximum hours of service have actually been 
established by the Secretary of Transportation; the controlling 
consideration is whether the employee comes within his power to do so. 
The exemption is not operative in the absence of such power, but an 
employee with respect to whom the Secretary of Transportation has such 
power is excluded, automatically, from the benefits of section 7 of the 
Fair Labor Standards Act. (Southland Gasoline Co. v. Bayley, 319 U.S. 
44; Boutell v. Walling, 327 U.S. 463; Levinson v. Spector Motor Service, 
330 U.S. 649; Pyramid Motor Freight Corp. v. Ispass, 330 U.S. 695; 
Morris v. McComb, 332 U.S. 422)
    (b) Section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act, 1935, provides that it 
shall be the duty of the Interstate Commerce Commission (now that of the 
Secretary of Transportation (see Sec. 782.0(c))) to regulate common and 
contract carriers by motor vehicle as provided in that act, and that 
``to that end the Commission may establish reasonable requirements with 
respect to * * * qualifications and maximum hours of service of 
employees, and safety of operation and equipment.'' (Motor Carrier Act, 
sec. 204(a)(1)(2), 49 U.S.C. 304(a)(1)(2)) Section 204 further provides 
for the establishing of similar regulations with respect to private 
carriers of property by motor vehicle, if need therefor is found. (Motor 
Carrier Act, sec. 204(a)(3), 49 U.S.C. 304(a)(3))
    (c) Other provisions of the Motor Carrier Act which have a bearing 
on the scope of section 204 include those which define common and 
contract carriers by motor vehicle, motor carriers, private carriers of 
property by motor vehicle (Motor Carrier Act, sec. 203(a) (14), (15), 
(16), (17), 49 U.S.C. sec. 303(a) (14), (15), (16), (17)) and motor 
vehicle (Motor Carrier Act, sec. 203(a)(13)); those which confer 
regulatory powers with respect to the transportation of passengers or 
property by motor carriers engaged in interstate or foreign commerce 
(Motor Carrier Act, sec. 202(a)), as defined in the Motor Carrier Act, 
sec. 203(a) (10), (11), and reserve to each State the exclusive exercise 
of the power of regulation of intrastate commerce by motor carriers on 
its highways (Motor Carrier Act, sec. 202(b)); and those which expressly 
make section 204 applicable to certain transportation in interstate or 
foreign commerce which is in other respects excluded from regulation 
under the act. (Motor Carrier Act, sec. 202(c))