James P. Mitchell, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor v. King Packing Company, a Corporation

King Packing Company, a corporation, hereafter King Packing, operates a meat packing plant near Nampa, Idaho. It employs twelve or fourteen knifemen on its killing floor and nine or ten in the cutting room. These employees are employed on a regular eight-hour shift, five days a week, with an hour off at noon and a five minute rest period both morniiig and afternoon. The men are compensated at hourly rates. Certain of the knives used by the men are furnished by King Packing. All other knives used by each employee are owned and furnished by him. This is a requirement incident to employment. It is a rule at the plant and a custom and usage in force there that the men sharpen their own knives outside the scheduled shift of eight hours and for this activity the men are not compensated. While King Packing has a rule permitting the knives it furnishes to be sharpened during regular shift hours, employees ordinarily sharpen them on their own time, because the exigencies of the production line make it impracticable to do so during shift hours. A room for sharpening, in which there is an emery wheel and grindstone, is furnished by King Packing. In order to keep the edge on the blade…