In many cases an employer who operates a sawmill or concentration
yard will be supplied with logs or other forestry products by several
crews of persons who are engaged in the named operations. Frequently
some or all of such crews, separately considered, do not employ more
than eight persons but the total number of such employees is in excess
of eight. Whether the exemption will apply to the members of the
individual crews which do not exceed eight will depend on whether they
are employees of the sawmill or concentration yard to which the logs or
other forestry products are delivered or whether each such crew is a
truly independently owned and operated business. If the number of
employees in such a truly independently owned and operated business does
not exceed eight, the exemption will apply. On the other hand, the
Secretary and the Administrator will assume that the courts will be
reluctant to approve as bona fide a plan by which an employer of a large
number of woods employees splits his employees into several allegedly
``independent businesses'' in order to take advantage of the exemption.
