Mount Clemens Pottery

Mount Clemens Pottery. Michigan Legal Milestone. , The Fair Labor Standards Act (the Act) was enacted by Congress in 1938 to regulate workers' hours and wages. The United States Supreme Court interpreted an important provision of the Act in 1946 in a case arising in Mount Clemens. , , The Mount Clemens Pottery Company, opened in 1914, was for many years a major area employer. During World War II the company employed about 1,200 workers, who punched time cards upon arrival, but were paid only when productive time began, which as calculated by the company was 14 minutes later. The employees, represented by Edward Lamb of Toledo, sued, alleging a violation of the Act. Bert V. Nunneley of Mount Clemens and Frank E. Cooper of Detroit represented the Pottery. A decision in the employees' favor by the U.S. District Court was overturned by the Court of Appeals. , , Justice Frank Murphy, a former Michigan governor and mayor of Detroit, wrote the 1936 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court reversing the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court held that time spent by employees in walking to work after punching a time clock, and in preparing to start work, constituted working time within the overtime provisions of the Act. The following year Congress, responding to the Mount Clemens Pottery decision, enacted the Portal-to-Portal Act to relieve employers of the obligation to pay for time spent in nonproductive activities, except where such activities are compensable through custom or contract, notably through collective bargaining.