[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR780.7]

[Page 519-520]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 780_EXEMPTIONS APPLICABLE TO AGRICULTURE, PROCESSING OF AGRICULTURAL 
 
                         Subpart A_Introductory
 
Sec. 780.7  Reliance on interpretations.

    The interpretations of the law contained in this part are official 
interpretations which may be relied upon as provided in section 10 of 
the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947. In addition, the Supreme Court has 
recognized that such interpretations of this Act ``provide a

[[Page 520]]

practical guide to employers and employees as to how the office 
representing the public interest in its enforcement will seek to apply 
it'' and ``constitute a body of experience and informed judgment to 
which courts and litigants may properly resort for guidance.'' Further, 
as stated by the Court: ``Good administration of the Act and good 
judicial administration alike require that the standards of public 
enforcement and those for determining private rights shall be at 
variance only where justified by very good reasons.'' (Skidmore v. 
Swift, 323 U.S. 134). Some of the interpretations in this part are 
interpretations of exemption provisions as they appeared in the original 
Actbefore amendment in 1949, 1961, and 1966, which have remained 
unchanged because they are consistent with the amendments. These 
interpretations may be said to have congressional sanction because 
``When Congress amended the Act in 1949 it provided that pre-1949 
rulings and interpretations by the Administrator should remain in effect 
unless inconsistent with the statute as amended. 63 Stat. 920.'' 
(Mitchell v. Kentucky Finance Co., 359 U.S. 290; accord, Maneja v. 
Waialua, 349 U.S. 254.)