Holtville Alfalfa Mills, Inc., a Corporation v. R. R. Wyatt, Felipe Alday, R. R. Wyatt, Felipe Alday v. Holtville Alfalfa Mills, Inc., a Corporation

Certain employees of Holtville Alfalfa Mills brought action under :the Fair Labor Standards Act for alleged overtime wages on account of work done for defendant. The defense is that the labor performed by each of these employees was agricultural in character and therefore plaintiffs were excepted from the provisions applying to industrial workers generally or fell under certain classifications relating to processing of agricultural products.

The record clearly shows defendant is engaged in interstate commerce. Defendant conducts a year-round processing operation,- for seven months approximately on a basis of twenty-four hours a day and the balance twelve hours a day, but in each instance seven days a week, in dehydrating alfalfa -already chopped and pulverizing and pressing into blocks the resultant- product for sale and shipment in interstate commerce. The office, plant and equipment of defendant are located somewhat more than a mile beyond the city limits of Holtville, California, and not on a farm. Defendant owns no farms and operates none. It purchases from farmers growing crops of alfalfa within a radius of., one-half to eighteen miles of its plant. • Defendant at the proper…