Briefs before the New York State Court of Appeals in Joseph Tipaldo Minimum Wage Case

This case resulted in New York State's 1933 minimum wage law for women and children being declared unconstitutional. Both New York State's Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court found that a state may not regulate the wages of adult women, because to do so would interfere with their freedom to contract, guaranteed to them by the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution.



The case began when Joseph Tipaldo, manager of the Spotlight Laundry of Brooklyn, was indicted by a Kings County Grand Jury on November 2, 1934, and charged with "altering books and records for the purpose of concealing the failure to pay female employees the minimum fair wage prescribed in a mandatory order of the Industrial Commissioner of New York State." Tipaldo claimed the minimum wage law operated to deprive him of his liberty and property without due process of law and compelled him to be a witness against himself in a criminal case. The law required him to keep a record of the wages paid to and hours worked by his women employees. Tipaldo sued for a writ of habeas corpus in April, 1935. The writ was denied by Justice May of New York's Supreme Court who found the 1933 minimum wage law to be constitutional. Tipaldo appealed to the Court of Appeals and this decision was reversed. The United States Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeals decision.



Also included is "A Brief History of the New York Minimum Wage Law Case," prepared by the Women's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor in 1936. This pamphlet analyzes the social significance of the Tipaldo case.