Endicott Johnson Corp. v. Perkins

1943-03-01

Headline: Upheld Labor Secretary’s authority to enforce subpoenas for a contractor’s payroll records across separate plants, allowing federal investigators to probe alleged wage-and-hour violations under government contracts.

Holding: The Court held that the Labor Secretary can obtain payroll records from the contractor’s separate plants because the Secretary, not the courts, primarily determines coverage and may investigate alleged underpayments under the Walsh-Healey Act.

Real World Impact:

Allows Labor Department to get payroll records from all contractor plants during investigations.
Eases calculation of underpayments and liquidated damages for government contracts.
Limits early judicial blocking of administrative subpoenas in Walsh‑Healey enforcement.

Topics: government contracts, wage and hour rules, administrative subpoenas, labor department investigations

Summary

Background

Between 1936 and 1938 a shoe company was awarded several government contracts that named specific plants where the shoes were to be made. The Labor Secretary had issued wage rulings in 1937, including a minimum-wage determination for men’s welt shoes, and later issued rules about "integrated establishments." The Secretary opened an administrative investigation alleging underpayments in other, separate plants that made parts and issued subpoenas for payroll records; the company refused and the District Court refused enforcement.

Reasoning

The main question was whether the Secretary could require payroll records from the separate plants and whether a court could decide coverage before the Secretary completed her inquiry. The Court said the Act gives the Secretary primary responsibility to administer coverage and to investigate alleged underpayments. Payrolls were plainly related to proving underpayment and to calculating damages and disqualification periods, so the District Court erred in denying enforcement and in deciding coverage itself. The Court affirmed the lower appellate judgment ordering enforcement.

Real world impact

The decision lets the Labor Department obtain records across a contractor’s separate plants when investigating compliance with government-contract wage and hour rules. That access helps the Secretary determine underpayments, compute liquidated damages, and fix dates for possible disqualification from future contracts. The Court declined to decide broader constitutional issues and focused on the Secretary’s statutory investigatory authority.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Murphy dissented, arguing courts should be able to test whether the Secretary has probable legal justification before enforcing subpoenas, to protect against overreaching and needless invasions of privacy.