Rural Fire Protection Company, a Corporation v. William E. Hepp

This is an appeal from a final decision of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216 (b) and 28 U.S.C. § 1337 . This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

Defendant-appellant is an Arizona corporation engaged in furnishing private fire department type fire protection to municipal, industrial, commercial and residential customers who subscribe to and pay for the protection offered by appellant. Appellant had 9,443 accounts at the time of trial, some of whom were either directly engaged in interstate commerce or in producing goods for interstate commerce.

All of the plaintiffs-appellees involved in this case were university students employed by appellant to serve as firemen. All worked, under an employment arrangement in which they were hired as “sleepers,” i. e., they resided permanently at the Scottsdale fire station operated by appellant and were required to be present for duty every alternate weekday from 4:30 P.M. to 8:00 A.M. and every Sunday for a twenty-four hour shift. During alternate-day 4:30 to 8:00 shifts of duty, the men were permitted eight hours of sleep, unless a…