In the 1941 case Overnight Motor Transportation Co., Inc. v. Missel, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of an employee who was not paid overtime wages by his employer, a transportation company. The plaintiff worked as a dispatcher for the defendant and regularly worked more than 60 hours per week but did not receive any additional compensation beyond his fixed weekly salary for these extra hours. He sued under provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which mandated that employers pay their employees one-and-a-half times their regular wage rate for every hour they work over forty in a given week. The court held that even though he was on a salary basis, he should have been compensated at time-and-a-half rates for all hours worked over forty per week because FLSA's purpose is to protect workers from excessive working hours without proper remuneration.

In the dissenting opinion for the case Overnight Motor Transportation Co., Inc. v. Missel, it was argued that there should be a distinction between employees who work irregular hours and those with regular schedules when calculating overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The justice disagreed with the majority's interpretation of FLSA, arguing that it would lead to unjust enrichment of workers whose hours fluctuate from week to week at their own request or convenience. They contended that such an approach could potentially discourage employers from offering flexible working arrangements due to increased costs associated with overtime payments. Furthermore, they expressed concern over potential abuse by employees manipulating their time cards in order to maximize earnings through calculated use of overtime provisions.