[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: 29CFR783.31]

[Page 656-657]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 783_APPLICATION OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT TO EMPLOYEES EMPLOYED 
AS SEAMEN--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 783.31  Criteria for employment ``as a seaman.''

    In accordance with the legislative history and authoritative 
decisions as discussed in Sec. Sec. 783.28 and 783.29, an employee will 
ordinarily be regarded as ``employed as a seaman'' if he performs, as 
master or subject to the authority, direction, and control of the master 
aboard a vessel, service which is rendered primarily as an aid in the 
operation of such vessel as a means of transportation, provided he 
performs no substantial amount of work of a different character. This is 
true with respect to vessels navigating inland waters as well as ocean-
going and coastal

[[Page 657]]

vessels (Sternberg Dredging Co. v. Walling, 158 F. 2d 678; Walling v. 
Haden, 153 F. 2d 196, certiorari denied 328 U.S. 866; Walling v. Great 
Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., 149 F. 2d 9, certiorari denied 327 U.S. 722; 
Douglas v. Dixie Sand and Gravel Co., (E.D. Tenn.) 9 WH Cases 285). The 
Act's provisions with respect to seamen apply to a seaman only when he 
is ``employed as'' such (Walling v. Haden, supra); it appears also from 
the language of section 6(b)(2) and 13(a)(14) that they are not intended 
to apply to any employee who is not employed on a vessel.