Fair Labor Standards Act
The History of the FLSA
General Idea
Roosevelt won re-election in 1936, and immediately worked to push through legislation to protect America's laborers.
The Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, was passed in 1938.
The FLSA is a federal statute passed to protect workers from abuses that were occurring during the Industrial Revolution and Great Depression.
During this time, it was commonplace for companies to pay workers small wages and employ workers for long hours.
Many people, especially new immigrants, felt the work conditions were oppressive, but felt they had to take the jobs in order to provide for their families.
FLSA Purpose
Generally speaking, the purpose of the FLSA I three-fold.
These are the main provisions:
- Mandated that workers would be paid a living wage.
- Mandated that workers would be paid for overtime work.
- Create's new laws regarding child labor.
The Living Wage
This is a federal minimum wage required to be paid to workers per each hour worked.
This means that employers are required by law to pay workers at least this specific, regulated amount per hour.
This only applies to non-exempt employees, or those employees that are paid on an hourly basis
Overtime Payment
The FLSA also guaranteed workers overtime pay, which means that non-exempt employees must be paid at a rate that is time-and-a-half the regularly paid rate for any hours worked over 40 hours in one workweek.
The overtime rate is calculated using the individual employee's pay rate, so the rate varies by employee.
Also note that a workweek is a full 7 days.
No More Child Labor!!
For the first time, minimum ages of employment and hours of work for children will be regulated by federal law. The law includes sections that restrict the number of hours a child could work and banned children under the age of 18 from working in extremely hazardous or dangerous jobs
These kids sometimes work up to 19 hours a day to perform dangerous work, often performing perilous tasks in areas where only children’s bodies or hands will fit.
Under the new provisions of the FLSA, workers under the age of 18 will no longer work in these dangerous jobs at all.