§ 782.1 Statutory provisions considered.

(a) Section 13(b)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act provides an exemption from the maximum hours and overtime requirements of section 7 of the act, but not from the minimum wage requirements of section 6. The exemption is applicable to any employee with respect to whom the Secretary of Transportation has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, (part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 Stat. 546, as amended; 49 U.S.C. 304, as amended by Pub. L. 89–670, section 8e which substituted “Secretary of Transportation” for “Interstate Commerce Commission”—Oct. 15, 1966) except that the exemption is not applicable to any employee with respect to whom the Secretary of Transportation has power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service solely by virtue of section 204(a)(3a) of part II of the Interstate Commerce Act. (Pub. L. 939, 84th Cong., second sess., Aug. 3, 1956, secs. 2 and 3) The Fair Labor Standards Act confers no authority on the Secretary of Labor or the Administrator to extend or restrict the scope of this exemption. It is settled by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that the applicability of the exemption to an employee otherwise entitled to the benefits of the Fair Labor Standards Act is determined exclusively by the existence of the power conferred under section 204 of the Motor Carrier Act to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service with respect to him. It is not material whether such qualifications and maximum hours of service have actually been established by the Secretary of Transportation; the controlling consideration is whether the employee comes within his power to do so. The exemption is not operative in the absence of such power, but an employee with respect to whom the Secretary of Transportation has such power is excluded, automatically, from the benefits of section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act. (Southland Gasoline Co. v. Bayley, 319 U.S. 44; Boutell v. Walling, 327 U.S. 463; Levinson v. Spector Motor Service, 330 U.S. 649; Pyramid Motor Freight Corp. v. Ispass, 330 U.S. 695; Morris v. McComb, 332 U.S. 422)