(a) The Administrator, pursuant to the authority vested in him by
the Secretary of Labor, will make and apply findings under section
13(b)(11) of the Act as provided in this part. Such findings shall be
made only upon petitions meeting the requirements of this part, and only
as authorized in this section.
(b) For the purpose of establishing whether a wage payment plan has
the purpose and effect required by section 13(b)(11) for an exemption
from the overtime provisions of the Act, the Administrator shall have
authority, upon a proper showing and in accordance with the provisions
of this part, to
make a finding as to the general purpose and effect of any specific plan
of compensation on the basis of trip rates or other delivery payment
plan, with respect to the reduction of the length of the workweeks
worked by the employees of any specific employer who are compensated in
accordance with such plan for their employment by such employer as
drivers or drivers' helpers making local deliveries.
(c) Any finding made as to the purpose and effect of such a wage
payment plan pursuant to a petition therefor will be based upon a
consideration of all relevant facts shown or represented to exist with
respect to such plan that are made available to the Administrator. A
finding that such plan has the general effect of reducing the hours
worked by drivers or drivers' helpers compensated thereunder to, or
below, the maximum workweek applicable to them under section 7(a) of the
Act is not authorized under this part unless the Administrator finds
that during the most recently completed representative period of one
year (based on the experience of the employer in question, or if such
employer has not previously used such plan, on the experience of another
employer using such plan under substantially the same conditions, all as
defined in Sec. 551.8(g)(1)), the average weekly hours, taken in the
aggregate, of all full-time employees covered by the plan are not in
excess of the maximum workweek applicable to such employees under
section 7(a), or unless the Administrator makes an interim finding with
respect to such plan that, notwithstanding a lack of experience under it
for a representative period of 1 year, its provisions and manner of
operation, together with the other available information concerning the
plan, indicate clearly that by the end of such first representative year
the effect of the plan will have been to reduce the average weekly hours
worked by the employees covered by the plan in such first year of
operation to, or below, such maximum applicable workweek.
