The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
Overview
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) set standards for minimum wage and requires employers to pay employees for overtime work, among other things. If an employee works overtime, the employer must pay at least one and a half times the regular salary per hour. The FLSA requires the employer to pay at least minimum wage. Since the 1938 law was passed, the FLSA's minimum wage has been changed almost yearly, to expand the wage's coverage and to increase the minimum wage itself. To see the entire FLSA bill from the U.S. Department of Labor, click here.
FDR's Thoughts on the FLSA
"Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day, ...tell you...that a wage of $11 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry." President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said this at one of his famous fireside chats about the new minimum wage laws.
Child Labor Requirements
Requirements for Non-Agricultural Jobs
Certain jobs were deemed too dangerous for children under eighteen. The non-agricultural requirements restricts hours that children under sixteen can work. To be covered by the child labor laws, businesses must meet the following criteria:
The agricultural requirements prohibit the employment of children under sixteen during school hours. It also bans children under sixteen from working on agricultural jobs if they were deemed too dangerous. To be covered by the child labor laws, the farm employees must:
Certain jobs were deemed too dangerous for children under eighteen. The non-agricultural requirements restricts hours that children under sixteen can work. To be covered by the child labor laws, businesses must meet the following criteria:
- The business' gross income must be $500,000 or more.
- The business is a hospital or an institution for the mentally or physically ill, disabled or old; or any type of school.
- The business must be a government run agency or institution (e.g. a park district or Streets and Sanitation.)
The agricultural requirements prohibit the employment of children under sixteen during school hours. It also bans children under sixteen from working on agricultural jobs if they were deemed too dangerous. To be covered by the child labor laws, the farm employees must:
- Plow, dig, or fertilize the soil.
- Grow or harvest crops.
- Raise livestock, bees, poultry, or other animals.
- Work off the farm but are employed or hired directly by the farmer (e.g. delivering produce.)
- Be working on the farm operating equipment (e.g. operating plows, tractors, or wheat threshers.)
Minimum Wage
Learn about minimum wage from our friend Minimum Wage Dave!
Negative Reactions to the FLSA
The most practical idea arguing against the FLSA is that minimum wages may sometimes create more problems than they actually solve. They can also cause unemployment, depression, and may create more difficulties for the more challenged members of society. There is evidence that even though these laws are meant for people with more disadvantages, they aren't that likely to benefit from them. There are a certain amount of workers willing to do the job at a certain price, which, in the end forces companies to disemploy a certain number of people. The workers typically employed at lower wages are teenagers, african americans, and other minorities in the U.S. Another argument is that minimum wage should be based upon one's ownership and freedom to pay your workers whatever you think will benefit your business or company the best.
Changes Made to the FLSA
Over the years many changes have been issued by the FLSA, including:
- The transfer of responsibility of the Children's Bureau and of the Chief of the Children's Bureau to the Secretary of Labor in 1946.
- The Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibits the prejudice of employees on the basis of gender for their rate of pay.
- Fair Labor Standards Amendment of 1966 prohibits the prejudice of employees on the basis of their age for their rate of pay.
Concluding the FLSA
The FLSA was set in place to help those in need have a better living. It was never meant to cause unemployment even though it might have. The New Deal provided a variety of helpful services, and the FLSA was one of them that was specifically made to get people standing on their own two feet, and off to work. While hoover didn't do the best job he could to help the American people, FDR certainly did. Through all of the trauma and sorrow, the FLSA did what it could to provide, and to protect people all across America. But best of all, it succeeded.