Fair Labor Standards Act Of 1938: A Case Study

To begin, there is an extensive debate over whether if the U.S were to raise minimum wage, could it really help the working poor of low income families. Nancy Cook, in her article from the National Journal, “Why a Minimum-Wage Hike Can’t Help the Poor”, she points out that two thirds of around 100 surveys from 2007 had a negative effect and that it does more for the middle class than the lower one. (p.14). So, therefore, from her

Jason Furman and Parrot Sharon explain why raising minimum wage will help families. The wage has to be elevated to just the point where a family can actually afford all the necessities they need in order to survive. The cost of living in houses for poor people makes it difficult for them to afford it and is difficult to stay on task with all the bills. Many minimum wage workers have families to support. The cost of raising children is very expensive. It is an average of $7,100 per year. Minimum wage workers can barely afford to pay child care for one child, let alone two. Increasing minimum wage will also make life easier to those who have food stamps and child care needs. Which can also help them get into college a lot faster so they can go out and pursue a better paying job.

There are a lot of people around the world who struggle with money and a satisfactory way of life. Whether they be in the United States or across the globe, there is a standard minimum wage set for the working class of their country. In the Unites States, there is a federal minimum wage of seven dollars and twenty five cents per hour worked. Almost every state has another set minimum wage, which typically is a little higher than the federal minimum wage, but it cannot be lower than seven dollars and twenty five cents. Countries set minimum wage laws, to ensure there is a basic quality of life amongst its citizens. As the minimum wage goes up in certain states, the quality of life also improves. The problem with a higher minimum wage, is now people are getting paid higher for entry level jobs which are meant for teenagers and people new to the workforce. If the minimum wage keeps increasing across the country, teenagers and young adults will have a much more difficult time finding jobs.

When there are millions of Americans living at or below poverty lines, something has to be done. Billion dollar companies and businesses that employ workers, paying them low wages is hurting the economy. The reality is, unless the minimum wage is raised, the cycle will only continue. With higher minimum wages in place, the entire country does better and, therefore, should be raised. There needs to be laws put place to raise the minimum wage. Doing so would boost the economy with all of the money that Americans would put into it. With higher minimum wages, millions of Americans can get out of poverty, not having to rely on the government for assistance such as food stamps, public housing, child care, and health care needs. They can afford better housing options in which they want to live. Communities would see less crimes in neighborhoods creating a safer environment. Aside from that, Americans can afford a good education, health care, as well as healthier eating and exercising habits.

As the United States endured the hardships of the Great Depression, the struggles of the working class grew and employers were able to take advantage of desperate workers by overloading hours and shrinking wages. In 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt, in his New Deal legislation, saw the opportunity to attend to the issues concerning workers involved in interstate commerce. The Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, and the President described it in the following way “Except for the Social Security Act, it (the FLSA) is the most far-reaching, far-sighted program for the benefit of workers ever adopted here or in any other country.” (Nordlund). The FLSA, as it is known, set a maximum number of

Nationwide government officials often wonder how this country is going to overcome unemployment, and the common misconception is through the provision of low wage jobs. By providing people with some source of income, congress believes millions will no longer depend on government aid. In actuality, however, providing minimum wage work is not going to solve such a drastic problem now, in the future, or at all for that matter. Minimum wage ($5.15), while serving at the socially acceptable pay standard, does not even compare with the nationwide ?living wage? of $10.18 (Ramisch). It is becoming increasingly more difficult to survive on such tragic wages, yet there is often little debate because it is money, and every little bit matters when it comes to paying bills.

Raising minimum wages is a contestable issue because it is debated in wide and varied audiences. Minimum wage is near the top of economists’ interest; they are looking for the connection between low wages and poor job markets. Each country sets its own laws and regulations regarding wages. For this reason, it has significant importance to policy makers and workers in each of those respective countries. Social activists have also found interest in the topic due to the fact that those who earn a minimum wage tend to come from poor minority families. Furthermore, the average American should have the strongest interest in the conversation because most citizens have been paid a minimum wage at some point in their life. Due to this fact, the idea of a significant federal minimum wage increase in America is open for debate specifically to rejuvenate the job industry, improve living conditions for citizens, and strengthen the economy as a whole.

There have been similar proposals of this type of legislation throughout history. The first type of similar legislation passed was the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) which was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Grossman, 1978). This act applied to about one-fifth of the labor force but set a minimum wage to twenty-five cents an hour (Grossman, 1978). The minimum wage has increased many times since the initial passing of the FLSA. In 1949, “the minimum wage was raised from 40 cents an hour to 75 cents an hour for all workers and minimum wage coverage was expanded to include workers in the air transport industry” (U.S. Department of Labor, 2015, “Wage and Hour Division”). The federal minimum wage has been increased 22

Appellee violates the federal fair labor standard acts by designating an employee as a “manager” who is entitled to overtime pay when that employee’s primary job responsibilities do not require supervising other employees or exercising independent judgment, but do require day to day maintenance activities as well as retail sales.

In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into effect the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Among other things it banned child labor, limited the workweek to 44 hours, and set the national minimum wage at 25 cents an hour (United States Department of Labor). This is one of 121 bills put forth by Roosevelt after Congress had adjourned. The purpose of the bill is associated with the Great Depression. For the purpose of assisting the nation back onto its feet after the Great Depression, this solution has succeeded, but unfortunately the issue had evolved and this one act could not sustain the growth of a nation. So technically this is no longer a solution for this very important issue. There has been a somewhat steady increase in wages through adjustments of the act, up to the current solution, but according to the Pew Research Center and the Economist, the set wages are actually less than what they use to be due to inflation: “Adjusted for inflation, the federal minimum wage peaked in 1968 at $8.54 (in 2014 dollars). Since it was last raised in 2009, to the current $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum has lost about 8.1% of its purchasing power to inflation”. This clear disconnect proves that the previous solution(s) is no longer working and therefore needs to be adjusted to meet America’s ever growing economy.

The Fair Labor Standard Act is also known as FLSA established in 1938. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed this bill to protect employees during the Great Depression (Perez, 2015). The sole purpose of this bill was to establish minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and Federal, State, and local governments (Bernardin & Russell, 2013). Before this act, there was no formal written law regarding standard minimum wage, overtime compensation, adequate timekeeping for hours worked as well as the proper age limit regarding the workforce personnel.

Minimum wage has been a topic that has caused mixed feelings from all parts of the United States and other countries and it continues to be a topic of interest to many. There are some that feel minimum wage it is not high enough to survive, while others feel if minimum wage is raised, so will the cost of goods, such as food, housing and cost of living in general, resulting in no change regardless of increase. There are many families that are living off minimum wage and can barely survive on it. The majority of these families are on either on government assistance and considered in the poverty lines thus impacting the lower class American population the most, or they are single mothers raising their families on one income. The purpose of

fact, when U.S. senators requested the Labor department investigate the matter, they found lawsuits that went all the way back to 1999 for the same type of behavior (Egan, 2016). According to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 the maltreatment behavior of the Wells Fargo managers against their employees was unlawful, this act was created to protect employees from being forced to work extra hours for little or no pay and instead guaranteed time-and-half rates for anything over a 40-hour workweek (Thomas, 2014). In response to these claims Wells Fargo issued a statement that insists they comply with the FSLA and that their employees are paid fairly. However, once again Grourley testified that during his time with the bank, managers would

“Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do, but it makes for good business”-Jim Sinegal, CEO of Costco. Many of America’s employees are not being paid well, however, for the annual income of a full-time employee who works year-round is less than $16,000 (about $15, 080) according to the current federal minimum wage (Rebuilding). To put into retrospect how out-dated the federal minimum wage is, consider that the minimum wage of 1956 amounted to exactly $7.93 in 2009 (Henderson). How progressive is it that our nation’s workers being paid less today than workers from the 50’s? The federal minimum wage should be raised in order to assist families out of poverty, to ensure the effort and loyalty of workers, and

After reading up on the Fair Labor Standards Act, I would agree that Jane’s position should be classified as exempt. The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division quantify the classification of executive exemption. Among these requirements are the employee must be compensated above minimum wage. Jane is paid more than other associates so we make the assumption that Jane is paid more than $455 weekly based on a 2010 finding that the average annual salaried employee was $44,283.30 (Martocchio, 2013). This breaks down to approximately $923 weekly. The employee’s primary duty must be managing the business. Jane runs the floor and can make decision on behalf of the company giving her a hand in running the business. Another requirement is