Sheppard v. Cornelius
Sheppard v. Cornelius
Opinion of the Court
In these proceedings, filed under § 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act,
The District Court granted summary judgment for the defendants on the ground that there was no cause of action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and no other basis of federal jurisdiction.
By § 16(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, an employer may be held liable to an employee for unpaid wages due to have been paid under §§ 6 or 7 of the Act. The action may be maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction. Section 6 of the Act is violated, however, only if the actual rate paid is less than the minimum specified in that section. There is a violation of § 7 if compensation for hours worked in any week in excess of the maximum number is at a rate less than one and one-half the regular rate. Where overtime compensation is involved, of course, it is necessary to determine what the regular rate is, and, to do so, reference must be had to the rates prescribed in any applicable collective bargaining agreement. Payment of contract rates is not required by § 6, however, for hours worked in any week if they do not exceed the maximum fixed by § 7. If, therefore, the plaintiffs' employment was governed by the National Bituminous Coal Agreement of 1950, they may have an action founded upon the contract for unpaid wages, but they have not shown a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Section 16 of that Act confers no jurisdiction upon this Court to adjudicate contractual claims for wages unless such adjudication is necessary to enforcement of the Act.
The plaintiffs seek to support the jurisdiction of the Court by reference to § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act.
Here, the employees’ representative, if there is one, is not a party to these actions. The Mine Workers are not here contending that they have a contract with the employers which the employers have violated. Jurisdiction, under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, to adjudicate claims by or against a labor organization representing employees does not extend to the claims of two employees asserting in their own names individual rights to additional compensation under a contract which they claim to be applicable.
Individual rights, individually asserted, though stemming from a collective employment agreement and solely dependent upon it, cannot be enforced under § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act. If there is substance in the rights asserted by these employees, the rights may be enforced through traditional actions brought in the state courts. There is no federal jurisdiction to enforce them.
Affirmed.
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 216.
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 206.
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 207.
. Sheppard v. Cornelius et al., D.C.S.D.W. Va., 194 F.Supp. 823.
. If there was a violation of § 7 of the Act, and the court determined that the contract rate was the regular rate within the meaning of that Section, the court would not be limited to an award of compensation for the overtime hour's worked. It could adjudicate the entire controversy by requiring payment of the contract rate for the first forty hours worked in each week and thus dispose of the entire controversy. When the court has jurisdiction of a federal claim under § 7 of the Act, it may proceed to adjudicate the closely related nonfederal contract claim for additional compensation during the first forty hours worked in any week. Manosky v. Betklehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc., 1 Cir., 177 F.2d 529, 534. When there has been- no violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, however, § 16 of that Act confers no jurisdiction upon the court to award any relief.
. 29 U.S.C.A. § 185.
. Textile Workers Union of America v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U.S. 448, 77 S.Ct. 912, 1 L.Ed.2d 972; United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424; Textile Workers Union of America v. Cone Mills Corp., 4 Cir., 268 F.2d 920.
. Association of Westinghouse Salaried Employees v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 348 U.S. 437, 75 S.Ct. 489, 99 L.Ed. 510.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Russell SHEPPARD v. Barney CORNELIUS, trading as Barney Coal Company, and Leckie Smokeless Coal Company, Appellees Ray E. RHODES v. Joe COSTA, trading as Joe Costa Coal Company, and Leckie Smokeless Coal Company
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published