Title 29 — LaborRelease 119-73not60
§261 Applicability of “area of Production” Regulations
Title 29 › Chapter 9— PORTAL-TO-PORTAL PAY › § 261
Summary
Employers are not liable under the Fair Labor Standards Act for failing to pay minimum wage or overtime for work done before December 26, 1946 if one of two things is true. First, a rule about what counts as an "area of production" from the Wage and Hour Division applied to the employer when the work was done, even if that rule was later found invalid. Second, the employer would not have been covered if the rule signed on December 18, 1946 (Federal Register, Vol. 11, p. 14648) had been in effect starting October 24, 1938.
Full Legal Text
Title 29, §261
Labor — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
No employer shall be subject to any liability or punishment under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended [29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.], on account of the failure of such employer to pay an employee minimum wages, or to pay an employee overtime compensation, for or on account of an activity engaged in by such employee prior to December 26, 1946, if such employer—
(1)was not so subject by reason of the definition of an “area of production”, by a regulation of the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, which regulation was applicable at the time of performance of the activity even though at that time the regulation was invalid; or
(2)would not have been so subject if the regulation signed on December 18, 1946 (Federal Register, Vol. 11, p. 14648) had been in force on and after October 24, 1938.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, referred to in text, is act June 25, 1938, ch. 676, 52 Stat. 1060, as amended, which is classified generally to chapter 8 (§ 201 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 201 of this title and Tables.
Executive Documents
Transfer of Functions
For
Transfer of Functions
of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of Labor, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of Labor, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 6, of 1950, §§ 1, 2, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1263, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
29 U.S.C. § 261
Title 29 — Labor
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60