Current through Register Vol. 24, December 22, 2023
(1) Section
39-3-402(7)
MCA applies to both of the following situations:
(a) Where board, lodging, or other facilities
are furnished in addition to a stipulated wage; and
(b) Where charges for board, lodging, or
other facilities are deducted from a stipulated wage. The use of the word
"furnishing" clearly indicates that this section was intended to apply to all
facilities furnished by the employer as compensation to the employee,
regardless of whether the employer calculates charges for such facilities as
additions to or deductions from wages.
(2) The reasonable cost of board, lodging, or
other facilities may be considered as part of the wage paid an employee only
where customarily "furnished" to the employee. Not only must the employee
receive the benefits of the facility for which he is charged, but it is
essential that his acceptance of the facility be voluntary and
uncoerced.
(3) The reasonable cost
of board, lodging, or other facilities may be considered as part of the wage
paid an employee only where "customarily" furnished to the employee. Where such
facilities are "furnished" to the employee, it will be considered a sufficient
satisfaction of this requirement if the facilities are furnished regularly by
the employer to his employees or if the same or similar facilities are
customarily furnished by other employers engaged in the same or similar trade,
business, or occupation in the same or similar communities. Facilities
furnished in violation of any Federal, State, or local law, ordinance or
prohibition will not be considered facilities "customarily"
furnished.
(4) "Other facilities".
(a) "Other facilities" as used in this
section, must be something like board or lodging. The following items have been
deemed to be within the meaning of the term: Meals furnished at company
restaurants or cafeterias or by hospitals, hotels, or restaurants to their
employees; meals, dormitory rooms, and tuition furnished by a college to its
student employees' housing furnished for dwelling purposes; general merchandise
furnished at company stores and commissaries (including articles of food,
clothing, and household effects) ; fuel (including coal, kerosene, firewood,
and lumber slabs), electricity, water, and gas furnished for the noncommercial
personal use of the employee; transportation furnished employees between their
homes and work where the travel time does not constitute hours worked
compensable and the transportation is not an incident of and necessary to the
employment.
(b) It should also be
noted that the cost of furnishing "facilities" which are primarily for the
benefit or convenience of the employer will not be recognized as reasonable and
may not therefore be included in computing wages. Items which have been held to
be primarily for the benefit or convenience of the employer and are not
therefore to be considered "facilities" include: Safety caps, explosives, and
miner's lamps (in the mining industry) ; electric power (used for commercial
production in the interest of the employer) ; company police and guard
protection; taxes and insurance on the employer's buildings which are not used
for lodgings furnished to the employee, "dues" to chambers of commerce and
other organizations used for example to repay subsidies given to the employer
to locate his factory in a particular community; transportation charges where
such transportation is an incident of and necessary to the employment; charges
for rental of uniforms where the nature of the business requires the employee
to wear a uniform; medical services and hospitalization which the employer is
bound to furnish under workmen's compensation acts, or similar Federal, State,
or local law. On the other hand, meals are always regarded as primarily for the
benefit and convenience of the employee.
Eff.
12/31/72.
Sec.
39-3-403,
MCA; IMP, Sec.
39-3-402,
MCA;
