United States v. Kelly

Background

A per-diem worker at the Government Printing Office sued for extra pay after working on certain holidays during World War II. His wage agreement said employees who worked on a holiday get their regular pay, 50% premium pay, and a gratuity “for the holiday as provided by law.” A 1938 Congressional Resolution listed which days were holidays and provided pay when workers were prevented from working, but said nothing about gratuities for holidays actually worked.

Reasoning

The key question was whether the 1938 Resolution or later wartime directives stopped the wage agreement from giving a gratuity when an employee worked on a holiday. The Court said the Resolution simply identified the holidays and did not forbid a private wage agreement from promising gratuity pay for work on those days. The Presidential wartime directive treating most holidays as regular work days did not cancel the wage agreement. Because the agreement expressly provided gratuity for holiday work, the employee was entitled to the extra day’s pay and the premium, and the Court affirmed the lower-court judgment.

Real world impact

The outcome means the plaintiff wins and, by stipulation, the ruling determines similar claims by 613 other Printing Office employees. Practically, per-diem employees who worked on the listed wartime holidays recover regular pay, the 50% premium, and a separate full day’s gratuity when their wage agreement so provides. The decision enforces the terms of wage agreements over administrative silence or wartime directives.

Dissents or concurrances

A dissent argued the 1938 Resolution covered only holidays when workers were prevented from working and that long-standing administrative practice rejected gratuities for worked holidays; that view would have reversed.