[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: 29CFR784.113]

[Page 629-630]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 784_PROVISIONS OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT APPLICABLE TO FISHING 
AND OPERATIONS ON AQUATIC PRODUCTS--Table of Contents
 
Subpart B_Exemptions Provisions Relating to Fishing and Aquatic Products
 
Sec. 784.113  Work related to named operations performed in off- or 
dead-season.

    Generally, during the dead or inactive season when operations named 
in section 13(a)(5) or 13(b)(4) are not being performed on the specified 
aquatic forms of life, employees performing work relating to the plant 
or equipment which is used in such operations during the active seasons 
are not exempt. Illustrative of such employees are those who repair, 
overhaul, or recondition fishing equipment or processing or canning 
equipment and machinery during the off-season periods when fishing, 
processing, or canning is not going on. An exemption provided for 
employees employed ``in'' specified operations is plainly not intended 
to apply to employees employed in other

[[Page 630]]

activities during periods when the specified operations are not being 
carried on, where their work is functionally remote from the actual 
conduct of the operations for which exemption is provided and is 
unaffected bythe natural factors which the Congress relied on as reason 
for exemption. The courts have recognized these principles. See Maneja 
v. Waialua, 349 U.S. 254; Mitchell v. Stinson, 217 F. 2d 210; Maisonet 
v. Central Coloso, 6 Labor Cases (CCH) par. 61,337, 2 WH Cases 753 (D. 
P.R.); Abram v. San Joaquin Cotton Oil Co., 49 F. Supp. 393 (S.D. 
Calif.), and Heaburg v. Independent Oil Mill Inc., 46 F. Supp. 751 (W.D. 
Tenn.). On the other hand, there may be situations where employees 
performing certain preseason or postseason activities immediately prior 
or subsequent to carrying on operations named in sections 13(a)(5) or 
section 13(b)(4) are properly to be considered as employed ``in'' the 
named operations because their work is so close in point of time and 
function to the conduct of the named operations that the employment is, 
as a practical matter, necessarily and directly a part of carrying on 
the operation for which exemption was intended. Depending on the facts 
and circumstances, this may be true, for example, of employees who 
perform such work as placing boats and other equipment in condition for 
use at the beginning of the fishing season, and taking the necessary 
protective measures with respect to such equipment which are required in 
connection with termination of the named operations at the end of the 
season. Where such workis integrated with and is required for the actual 
conduct of the named operations on the specified aquatic forms of life, 
and is necessarily performed immediately before or immediately after 
such named operations, the employees performing it may be considered as 
employed in the named operations, so as to come within the exemption. It 
should be kept in mind that the relationship between the work of an 
employee and the named operations which is required for exemption is not 
necessarily identical with the relationship between such work and the 
production of goods for commerce which is sufficient to establish its 
general coverage under the Act. Thus, repair, overhaul, and 
reconditioning work during the inactive season which does not come 
within the exemption is nevertheless closely related and directly 
essential to the production of goods for commerce which takes place 
during the active season and, therefore, is subject to the provisions of 
the Act (Farmers' Reservoir Co. v. McComb, 337 U.S. 755; Mitchell v. 
Stinson, 217 F. 2d 210; Bowie v. Gonzalez, 117 F. 2d 11; Weaver v. 
Pittsburgh Steamship Co., 153 F. 2d 597, cert., den., 328 U.S. 858).