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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Section 5

Citation
Section 5
Parent Document
Marvin v. Hodgson, 33 Cal. 2d 439 (1949)
Jurisdiction
California (state)
Effective Date
1949-02-01

Full Text

1,685 chars
Even if it be assumed that the wages actually paid remained the same after the change in the wage rate, the wages to which plaintiffs were entitled were sharply reduced by the change. Although plaintiffs received only $77.70 for working an 84-hour week before the attempted wage rate change, they were entitled by virtue of the Fair Labor Standards Act to receive $98.05. Under the changed rate they were entitled to only $78.40 for the same number of hours. To hold that the rate in fact remained the same is to hold that plaintiffs had no right to overtime pay under the old rate before the adjustment. This holding would be valid, however, only if the Stabilization Act and Executive Order No. 9250 had the effect of freezing wages at the amounts actually being paid rather than at the amounts to which employees were entitled by virtue of the Fair Labor Standards Act in eases where that act was being violated. The Stabilization Act, however, specifically provided that it was not to have this effect: “No action shall be taken under the authority of this Act with respect to wages or salaries, (1) which is inconsistent with the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ...” (50 U.S.C.A. App. § 964.) Before the rate adjustment plaintiffs had a right to greater wages than they were receiving. That right could have been enforced by an action under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under the adjustment, they would no longer be entitled to more wages than they actually received. It is clear, therefore, that even if the wages paid for an 84-hour week remained substantially the same, the result of the adjustment was to reduce the wages to which plaintiffs were entitled.