Under the Act, as amended, an employee engaged in ``trade commerce,
transportation, transmission, or communication'' between any State and
any place outside thereof is covered by the Act regardless of whether
the ``place outside'' is another State or is a foreign country or is
some other place. Before the amendment to section 3(b) which became
effective January 25, 1950, employees whose work related solely to the
flow of commerce into a State from places outside it which were not
``States'' as defined in the Act were not employees engaged in
``commerce'' for purposes of the Act, although employees whose work was
concerned with the flow of commerce out of the State to such places were
so engaged.49 This placed employees of importers in a less
favorable position under the Act than the employees of exporters. This
inequality was removed by the amendment to section 3(b).50
Accordingly, employees performing work in connection with the
importation of goods from foreign countries are engaged ``in commerce''
and covered by the Act, as amended. The coverage of such employees, as
of those performing work in connection with the exportation of goods to
foreign countries, is determined by the same principles as in the case
of employees whose work is connected with goods procured from or sent to
other States.
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49 The definition of ``commerce'' previously referred to
commerce ``from any State to any place outside thereof.'' The amendment
substituted ``between'' for ``from'' and ``and'' for ``to'' in this
clause.
50
