[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: 29CFR1620.3]

[Page 309-310]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
          CHAPTER XIV--EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
 
PART 1620_THE EQUAL PAY ACT--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1620.3  General coverage of employees ``engaged in * * * the production of goods for commerce.''

    (a) Like the FLSA, the EPA applies to employees ``engaged in * * * 
the production of goods for commerce.'' The broad meaning of 
``commerce'' as defined in section 3(b) of the FLSA has been outlind in 
Sec. 1620.2. ``Goods'' is also comprehensively defined in section 3(i) 
of the FLSA and includes ``articles or subjects of commerce of any 
character, or any part or ingredient thereof'' not expressly excepted by 
the statute. The activities constituting ``production'' of the goods for 
commerce are defined in section 3(j) of the FLSA. These are not limited 
to such work as manufacturing but include handling or otherwise working 
on goods intended for shipment out of the State either directly or 
indirectly or for use within the State

[[Page 310]]

to serve the needs of the instrumentalities or facilities by which 
interstate or foreign commerce is carried on. Employees engaged in any 
closely related process or occupation directly essential to such 
production of any goods, whether employed by the producer or by an 
independent employer, are also engaged, by definition, in 
``production.'' Thus, employees engaged in the administration, planning, 
management, and control of the various physical processes together with 
the accompanying clerical and accounting activities are, from a 
productive standpoint and for purposes of the FLSA, ``engaged in the 
production of goods for commerce.''
    (b) Employees engaged in the production of goods for interstate or 
foreign commerce include those who work in manufacturing, processing, 
and distributing establishments, including wholesale and retail 
establishments that ``produce'' (including handling or working on) goods 
for such commerce. This includes everyone employed in such 
establishments, or elsewhere in the enterprises by which they are 
operated, whose activities constitute ``production'' of such goods under 
the principles outlined in paragraph (a) of this section. Thus, 
employees who sell, process, load, pack, or otherwise handle or work on 
goods which are to be shipped or delivered outside the State either by 
their employer or by another firm, and either in the same form or as a 
part or ingredient of other goods, are engaged in the production of 
goods for commerce within the coverage of the FLSA. So also are the 
office, management, sales, and shipping personnel, and maintenance, 
custodial, and protective employees who perform as a part of the 
integrated effort for the production of the goods for commerce, services 
related to such production or to such goods or to the plant, equipment, 
or personnel by which the production is accomplished.