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Show LEASING SYSTEM TOPIC OF MARCH 18 CONFERENCE An informal fact-finding conference con-ference on leasing systems in the metal-mining industry will be held March 18 at Salt Lake City, Colonel Philip B- Fleming. Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, U. S. Department of Labor, announces: The ton-ference, ton-ference, which will begin at 10 a. m. in the Chamber of Utah House of Representatives, will be before Dorothy M. Williams, Regional Attorney for the Division Divis-ion in San Francisco. The conference is being held on the question of whether lessees les-sees of mine operators are employees em-ployees under the , Fair Labor Standards Act. At opinion on this question was expressed by Colonel Fleming in July, 1940, at the request of metal mine operators op-erators and lessees of such operators op-erators in the intermouhtain states. Colonel Fleming stated that if under the lease agreement control and supervision over the operations of the so-called lessee transportation to and from work places; (c) furnishing of supplies, sup-plies, tools, equipment, and machinery; ma-chinery; (d) enforcement of safety regulations; (e) supervision supervis-ion and control. (5) Restrictions upon right of lessee to employ workers or associate as-sociate others with him; participation partici-pation by lessor in selection of persons employed by lessee or associated with him- (6) Handling and disposition of ore mined under lease agreements. agree-ments. A record will be made of the testimony and will be available for purchase. After the conference confer-ence is concluded, a reasonable time will be allowed for the filing fil-ing of briefs. Any interpretation announced by the administrator as a result of this conference will serve merely to indicate the conduction conduc-tion of the law which will guide the administrator in his enforcement enforce-ment of the act. However, it should be noted that the Supreme Court has announced, in the case of U. S. v. American Trucking Associations, Inc., et al, that the Administrator's interpretative opinions covering the Fair Labor La-bor Standards Act are entitled to great weight. are reserved to the lessor, such lease agreement embodies ' the normal incidents of the embloy-er-employee relationship and the so-called lessees will be considered consid-ered as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. On the other hand, Colonel Fleming further stated, if a particular lessee les-see is operating mining property which is not a part of the property pro-perty currently being operated by the mining company with regular employees, and if in the lease agreement the mining .company .com-pany does not have the right to control the lessee in his operation opera-tion of the mining property, it may well be that the lessee is riot an employee of the mine owner but is in fact an independent inde-pendent operator of such property. pro-perty. At the conclusion of the coming com-ing conference the administrator administra-tor will announce a further interpretation in-terpretation on the question of the existence of the employer-employee employer-employee relationship between mine operators and so-called mining lessees. The conference will also assist the administrator in making other related determinations deter-minations concerning the application appli-cation of the Fair Labor Standards Stand-ards Act to mines operating partially or wholly under a leasing leas-ing system. YntoretH nprsnna will lw tiir. mitted to present written or oral testimony, and the following points are thought to be particularly particu-larly pertinent: (I) The terms of the lease agreements. Where the agreements agree-ments are written, copies will be received in evidence. , (2) The total number of underground under-ground workers in the mine and the total number of such work-era work-era working under lease agreements. agree-ments. If groups of workers are working under lease agreements, the number of such groups and the number of workers in each group- (3) Compensation of lessees, and of workers employed by them -or associated with them; payment of insurance, etc.; nature na-ture of reports furnished by lessee les-see to lessor. (4) Conditions of work undar lease agreements, particularly with respect to (a) length and number of shifts; starting and stopping time; (b) means of |