Opinion

Wernhardt v. Koenig

  • 60 F. Supp. 709
  • 1945 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2268
Court
District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
Filed
May 10, 1945
Status
Published
Author
Kirkpatrick
On the bench
Kirkpatrick
Cited by
6 cases
Authority
More cited than 80.5%

The opinion

KIRKPATRICK, District Judge.

This action was brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., for overtime pay. The defendant has moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that it fails to state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted.

It appears from the complaint that the plaintiffs are employees of the defendants and are engaged in interstate commerce. It further appears from a letter from the National War Labor Board, dated March 4, 1944, which by agreement of the parties was considered by the 'Court as though incorporated into the pleadings, that the hourly rates, upon the basis of which this claim for overtime is made, were the result of a wage adjustment made by the employers without securing the approval of the National War Labor Board, in violation of the Wage Stabilization Law and regulations promulgated thereunder. Therefore, this complaint shows on its face that the recovery sought is based on an illegal *710 contract. The Wage Stabilization Law provides in 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 965:

“No employer shall pay, and no employee shall receive, wages or salaries in contravention of the regulations promulgated by the President under this Act.” This section makes plain the intent of Congress that such contracts are illegal and the Court can not and will not lend itself to the enforcement of a contract made to perform an act which is expressly forbidden by a law of the United States and arises from an illegal contract. Such a contract is not only unenforcible but void. Fitzsimons v. Eagle Brewing Co., 3 Cir., 107 F.2d 712 , 126 A.L.R. 681 . The result is that these plaintiffs can not base any claims on such agreements.

The motion to dismiss the complaint is granted.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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