The question was whether the state could interfere with a citizen's right to form a contract, which is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.

The state acted within the scope of its police powers and had the authority to regulate the health, the safety, and the welfare of workers in Oregon.

Justice McKenna dismissed Bunting's contention that the law did nothing to preserve the health of employees.

It was also found that the law did not provide an unfair advantage to certain types of employers in the labor market since it regulated the hours of service for workers, not the wages that they earned.

Under the Oregon law, workers and their employers were still free to implement a wage scheme agreeable to both.