The writs of certiorari granted in these three cases present questions as to the interpretation of Section 16(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 52 Stat. 1060, at 1069, 29 U.S.C.A. § 216(b), which provides that an employer who violates the minimum wage and maximum hour provisions of the Act '* * * shall be liable to the employee or employees affected in the amount of their unpaid minimum wages, or their unpaid overtime compensation, as the case may be, and in an additional equal amount as liquidated damages. * * *' Cases No. 445 and No. 554, raise the question whether an employee subject to the terms of the Act can waive or release his right to receive from his employer liquidated damages under Section 16(b). Case No. 421 presents the issue of whether in a suit brought pursuant to the provisions of Section 16(b) the employee is entitled to interest on sums recovered as wages and liquidated damages under that section. Since these three cases involve similar problems relating to the interpretation of Section 16(b) and the Congressional policy behind its adoption, all three cases will be dealt with in one opinion. See also J. F. Fitzgerald Const. Co. v. Pedersen, No. 462, 324 U.S. 720, 65 S.Ct. 892.
No. 445.
The petitioner, Brooklyn Savings Bank, owned and operated an eleven story office building in which the respondent was employed as a night watchman during a two year period from November 5, 1938, to August 30, 1940. Since a substantial portion of that building was devoted to the production of goods for commerce, the respondent was entitled to overtime compensation under the provisions of Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 207. 52 Stat. 1063. No such compensation was paid at that time. However, in November, 1942, over two years after the respondent had left petitioner's service, the petitioner computed the statutory overtime compensation due the respondent and offered him a check for $423.16 in return for a release of all of his rights under the Act. The respondent signed the release and took the check. Since this sum did not include any payment for liquidated damages provided for in Section 16(b) of the Act, the respondent subsequently instituted the present proceeding in a New York City Municipal Court to recover liquidated damages due him under Section 16(b). The complaint was dismissed on the grounds that respondent failed to prove a cause of action and also that the respondent 'released any claim for liquidated damages or counsel fees.' The Appellate Term reversed, per curiam, holding that respondent was employed in the production of goods for commerce within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act and was entitled therefore to recover liquidated damages by reason of petitioner's default in making overtime payments as required by Section 7 of the Act. This decision was affirmed by the New York Appellate Division, and by the New York Court of Appeals. Since the New York Court of Appeals decided a federal question of substance not heretofore determined by this Court, we granted certiorari limited to the question of whether the respondent's release of all further claims and damages under the Act, given at the time he received payment of the overtime compensation due under the Act, is a defense to an action subsequently brought solely to recover liquidated damages. The jurisdiction of this Court rests on Section 237(b) of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C.A. § 344(a).
No. 554.