[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: 29CFR784.8]

[Page 621-622]
 
                             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 A_General
 
Sec. 784.8  ``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 Food Corp. v. 
McComb, 331 U.S. 722). 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

[[Page 622]]

the Act, ``includes any individual employed by anemployer,'' 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 may be 
different employers who employ employees in a particular establishment 
or enterprise.