The exemption from the overtime pay requirements provided by section
13(b)(4) of the Act extends to employees ``employed in the * * *
marketing * * * storing, packing for shipment, or distributing of any
kind of'' perishable aquatic product named in the section. An employee's
work must be functionally so related to the named activity as to be, in
practical effect, a part of it, and the named activity must be performed
with respect to the perishable aquatic commodities listed in section
13(b)(4), in order for the exemption to apply to him. The named
activities include the operations customarily performed in the
marketing, storing, packing for shipment, or distributing of perishable
marine products. For example, an employee engaged in placing perishable
marine products in boxes, cartons, crates, bags, barrels, etc.,
preparatory to shipment and placing the loaded containers on conveyances
for delivery to customers would be employed in the ``packing for
shipment'' of such products. Salesmen taking orders for the perishable
aquatic products named in the section would be employed in the
``marketing'' of them. Employees of a refrigerated warehouse who perform
only duties involved in
placing such perishable marine products in the refrigerated space,
removing them from it, and operating the refrigerating equipment, would
be employed in ``storing'' or ``distributing'' such products, depending
on the facts. On the other hand, employees of a public warehouse
handling aquatic products which have been canned or otherwise rendered
nonperishable, or handling perishable products which contain substantial
amount of ingredients not named in section 13(b)(4), would not be within
the exemption. Office, clerical, maintenance, and custodial employees
are not exempt by reason of the fact that they are employed by employers
engaged in marketing, storing, packing for shipment, or distributing
seafood and other aquatic products. Such employees are exempt only when
the facts of their employment establish that they are performing
functions so necessary to the actual conduct of such operations by the
employer that, as a practical matter, their employment is directly and
necessarily a part of the operations intended to be exempted (see, for
some examples, Sec. 784.155).
