The period for determining whether the ``area of production''
requirement of section 13(b)(14) is met is prescribed in the regulations
in part 536 of this chapter. Whether or not an establishment is one
commonly recognized as a country elevator must be tested by general
functions and attributes over a representative period of time, as
previously explained, and requires reexamination for exemption purposes
only if these change. But insofar as the exemption depends for its
application on the employment of employees, it applies on a workweek
basis. An employee employed by the establishment is not exempt in any
workweek when more than five employees ``are employed in the
establishment in such operations,'' as previously explained (see
Secs. 780.712 through 780.715). Nor is any employee within the exemption
in a workweek when he is not employed ``by'' the establishment within
the meaning of section 13(b)(14) (see Secs. 780.716 through 780.719).
This is in accordance with the general rule that the unit of time to be
used in determining the application of the Act and its exemptions to an
employee is the workweek. (See Overnight Motor Transportation Co. v.
Missel, 316 U.S. Mitchell v. Hunt, 263 F. 2d 913; McComb v. Puerto Rico
Tobacco Marketing Co-op. Ass'n, 80 F. Supp. 953, affirmed 181 F. 2d
697.) A workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring interval of seven
consecutive 24-hour periods. It may begin at any hour of any day set by
the employer and need not coincide with the calendar week. Once the
workweek has been set it commences each succeeding week on the same day
and at the same
hour. Changing the workweek for the purpose of escaping the requirements
of the Act is not permitted.
