One of the steps Congress took in the 1961 Amendments to extend the
monetary provisions of the Act to more workers was to limit the scope of
the exemption which excluded all employees employed as seamen from
application of the minimum wage and overtime provisions. This it did by
extending the minimum wage provisions of the Act to one employed as a
seaman on an American vessel (section 6(b)(2)), by adding to the
language of section 13(a)(14) to make the exemption applicable only to a
seaman employed on a vessel other than an American vessel, and finally
by the addition of a new exemption, section 13(b)(6), relieving
employers of overtime pay requirements with respect to those employees
employed as seamen who do not come within the scope of the amended
section 13(a)(14). (H. Rep. No. 75, 87th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 33, 36;
Sen. Rep. No. 145, 87th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 32, 50; Statement of the
Managers on the part of the House, H. (Cong.) Rep. No. 327, 87th Cong.,
1st sess., p. 16.) In view of the retention in the 1961 amendments of
the basic language of the original exemption, ``employee employed as a
seaman'', the legislative history and prior judicial construction (see
Sec. 783.29) of the scope and meaning of this phrase would seem
controlling for purposes of the amended Act.
