[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: 29CFR783.7]

[Page 605-606]
 
                             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. 783.7  ``Employer'', ``employee'', and ``employ''.

    The Act's major provisions impose certain requirements and 
prohibitions on every ``employer'' subject to their terms. The 
employment by an ``employer'' of an ``employee'' is, to the extent 
specified in the Act, made subject to minimum wage and overtime pay 
requirements and to prohibitions against the employment of oppressive 
child labor. The Act provides its own definitions of ``employer'', 
``employee'', and ``employ'', under which ``economic reality'' rather 
than ``technical concepts'' determines whether there is employment 
subject to its terms (Goldberg v. Whitaker House Cooperative, 366 U.S. 
28; United States v. Silk, 331 U.S. 704; Rutherford FoodCorp. v. McComb, 
331 U.S. 772). An ``employer'', as defined in section 3(d) of the Act, 
``includes any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of 
an employer in relation to an employee but shall not include the United 
States or any State or political subdivision of a State, or any labor 
organization (other than when acting as an employer), or anyone acting 
in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization''. An 
``employee'', as defined in section 3(e) of the Act, ``includes any 
individual employed by an employer'', and ``employ'', as used in the 
Act, is defined in section 3(g) to include ``to suffer or permit to 
work''. It should be noted, as explained in part 791 of this chapter, 
dealing with joint employment, that in appropriate circumstances two or 
more employers may be jointly responsible for compliance with the 
statutory requirements applicable to employment of a particular 
employee. It should also be noted that ``employer'', ``enterprise'', and 
``establishment'' are not synonymous terms, as used in the Act. An 
employer may have an enterprise with more than one establishment, or he 
may have more than one enterprise, in which he employs employees within 
the meaning of the Act. Also, there

[[Page 606]]

may be different employers who employ employees in a particular 
establishment or enterprise.