LABOR LAW- FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938- DEFINITION OF COMMERCE --APPLICABILITY TO ACTIVITY ESSENTIALLY LOCAL IN NATURE

Defendant owned and operated three warehouses in the city of Chicago where merchandise received from several states was processed and/ or stored until it was ready for distribution to defendant\u27s retail stores. Such stores were located in the Chicago area, some being in Illinois and some a short distance within Indiana. Plaintiff, Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, sought to enjoin defendant from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, claiming that a substantial number of the employees working in defendant\u27s warehouses were engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce as that phrase is used in the act. Held, injunction denied. The Fair Labor Standards Act was not applicable to these particular employees. Fleming v. Goldblatt Bros., (D. C. Ill. 1941) 39 F. Supp. 701