Section 6(b) requires, under paragraph (2) of the subsection, that
an employee employed as a seaman on an American vessel be paid wages at
not less than the rate which will provide to the employee, for the
period covered by the wage payment, wages which are equal to
compensation for all hours on duty in such period at the hourly rate
prescribed for employees newly covered by the Act's minimum wage
requirements by reason of the 1961 Amendments (see Secs. 783.23 and
783.26). Although the Act takes the workweek as the unit of time to be
used in determining compliance with the minimum wage of overtime
requirements and in applying the exemptions, Congress, in recognition of
the unique working conditions of seamen and of the customs in
the industry, made this special provision. Under section 6(b)(2) periods
other than a workweek may be used, in accordance with established
customs in the industry, as the basis for calculating wages for covered
seamen provided the wages equal the compensation at the applicable
minimum hourly rate which would be due to the employee for his hours
actually spent on duty in the period. This would mean that the wage
period may properly cover, for example, the period of a month or of a
voyage so long as the seaman receives at the appropriate time
compensation at least equal to the prescribed minimum rate for each
compensable hour in that pay period. (See also Sec. 531.26 of this
chapter concerning requirements of other laws governing calculation of
wages and frequency and manner of payment.) To illustrate, where seamen
have customarily been paid monthly under an arrangement to perform
seamen's duties during stipulated periods and to be off duty during
stipulated periods during the month, if such a seaman works 300 hours
during the month and receives his monthly compensation in an amount
equal to a payment for that number of hours at the applicable minimum
rate, there would be compliance with the requirements of section
6(b)(2). The fact that this seaman works a varying number of hours
during the weeks comprising the monthly period or that the monthly
compensation is disbursed in two or four partial payments to the seaman
during the month would not warrant a contrary conclusion.
