Key Point 8-08.03. Several federal courts have addressed the coverage of church employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The Fair Labor Standards Act does not specifically exempt religious organizations from its provisions, and many courts have ruled that the Act covers the employees of such organizations.
One court held that the Act applied to the employees of a religious denomination's publishing plant even though the plant was organized "to glorify God, publish the full Gospel to every nation, and promote the Christian religion by spreading religious knowledge."[32] Mitchell v. Pilgrim Holiness Church Corp., 210 F.2d 879 (7th Cir. 1944). The court observed that the amount of goods sent outside the state where they are produced does not have to be large in order to subject the producer to the provisions of the Act, since the shipment in commerce of "any" goods ...
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