§65. Establishment of eight hour day

Eight hours shall, in contracts for labor and service, be deemed a day's work and the measure or standard of a day's work for the purpose of reckoning the compensation for services of all employees who are now or may hereafter be employed by any common carrier by railroad, except railroads independently owned and operated not exceeding one hundred miles in length, electric street railroads, and electric interurban railroads, which is subject to the provisions of subtitle IV of title 49, and who are now or may hereafter be actually engaged in any capacity in the operation of trains used for the transportation of persons or property on railroads, except railroads independently owned and operated not exceeding one hundred miles in length, electric street railroads, and electric interurban railroads, from any State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia to any other State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia, or from one place in a territory to another place in the same Territory, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent foreign country, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States: Provided, That the above exceptions shall not apply to railroads though less than one hundred miles in length whose principal business is leasing or furnishing terminal or transfer facilities to other railroads, or are themselves engaged in transfers of freight between railroads, or between railroads and industrial plants.

(Sept. 3, 5, 1916, ch. 436, §1, 39 Stat. 721.)

Codification

"Subtitle IV of title 49" substituted in text for "the Act of February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, entitled 'An Act to regulate commerce,' as amended [49 U.S.C. 1 et seq.]" on authority of Pub. L. 95–473, §3(b), Oct. 17, 1978, 92 Stat. 1466 , the first section of which enacted subtitle IV of Title 49, Transportation.

Section was enacted as part of act Sept. 3, 5, 1916, popularly known as the Adamson Act, and not as part of act Mar. 4, 1907, popularly known as the Hours of Service Act, which formerly comprised this chapter.

Short Title

Act Sept. 3, 5, 1916, ch. 436, 39 Stat. 721, which enacted this section and section 66 of this title, is popularly known as the "Adamson Law".

Date of Approval

Act Sept. 3, 5, 1916, was approved on Sept. 3 and again on Sept. 5, because Sept. 3 was Sunday, and some doubt existed as to the validity of an act approved on that day.

Section Referred to in Other Sections

This section is referred to in section 66 of this title.