[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 4]
[Revised as of July 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1620.7]

[Page 311]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
          CHAPTER XIV--EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
 
PART 1620_THE EQUAL PAY ACT--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1620.7  ``Enterprise'' coverage.

    (a) The terms ``enterprise'' and ``enterprise engaged in commerce or 
in the production of goods for commerce'' are defined in subsections 
3(r) and 3(s) of the FLSA. Under the enterprise concept, if a business 
is an ``enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for 
commerce,'' every employee employed in such enterprise or by such 
enterprise is within the coverage of the EPA unless specifically 
exempted in the FLSA, regardless of whether the individual employee is 
actually engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce. 
The term ``enterprise'' is not synonymous with the terms ``employer'' or 
``establishment'' although on occasion the three terms may apply to the 
same business entity. An enterprise may consist of a single 
establishment operated by one or more employers. (See definitions of 
``employer'' and ``establishment'' in Sec. Sec. 1620.8 and 1620.9.)
    (b) In order to constitute an enterprise, the activities sought to 
be aggregated must be related to each other, they must be performed 
under a unified operation or common control, and they must be performed 
for a common business purpose. Activities are related when they are the 
same or similar, or when they are auxiliary services necessary to the 
operation and maintenance of the particular business. Activities 
constitute a unified operation when the activities are operated as a 
single business unit or economic entity. Activities are performed under 
common control when the power to direct, restrict, regulate, govern or 
administer the performance of the activities resides in a single person 
or entity or when it is shared by a group of persons or entities. 
Activities are performed for a common business purpose when they are 
directed to the same or similar business objectives. A determination 
whether the statutory characteristics of an enterprise are present in 
any particular case must be made on a case-by-case basis. See generally, 
subpart C of 29 CFR part 779 for a detailed discussion of the term 
``enterprise'' under the FLSA.