(a) As is true generally with respect to provisions of the Act
concerning compensation for overtime hours of work (see Secs. 778.100
through 778.105 of this chapter, Overnight Transportation Co. v. Missel,
316 U.S. 572), the unit of time to be used in determining the
application of all provisions of the section 7(b)(3) exemption to an
employee is the workweek. As defined in Sec. 778.105 of this chapter, an
employee's workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168
hours--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.
(b) By its terms (Sec. 794.100), section 7(b)(3) exempts an employer
from any statutory responsibility he might otherwise have for a
violation of section 7(a) of the Act ``by employing any employee for a
workweek in excess of that specified in such subsection'' without paying
the overtime compensation prescribed therein, ``if such employee is so
employed * * * by an * * * enterprise'' qualifying under section 7(b)(3)
for application of its provisions to such employment and if such
employee receives the compensation which section 7(b)(3) requires.
Accordingly, for section 7(b)(3) to apply to any workweek when an
employee is employed for hours in excess of those specified in section
7(a), it must be established that in such workweek he is employed by his
employer in the exempt activities of an enterprise described in section
7(b)(3) and that the compensation received by him for his work in such
workweek satisfies the special pay requirements of section 7(b)(3).
