The Fair Labor Standards Act

For centuries, there has been a common relationship between employers and employees. Over the course of that time, the workplace and the jobs within it have evolved as new jobs were created, ways to execute tasks became more advanced and laws were enacted to put into place fair employment for those in the workforce. In 1938, congress would pass and President Roosevelt would sign the Wages and Hours Bill, more commonly known as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). This federal statute introduced a 44 hour, seven day work week, established the national minimum wage, guaranteed overtime pay in specific types of jobs at a rate of “time and a half”, and it defines oppressive child labor, which prohibits most employment of minors. The FLSA applies to those employees engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage.

The case against raising the minimum wage is very simple: a higher wage will make it more difficult and expensive to companies to hire workers. What will be the consequences on the economy? Well, companies won’t be able to pay all of its workers which will lead to more unemployment. At the end, people who keep their job will have a higher profit, however those who lose their job will suffer.

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.

To begin, increasing minimum wage would increase economic activity. With an increase of $1.75 hourly, it has been predicted that there would be increase of aggregate household spending to $48 billion the next year (Aaronson). This increase would boost the United States GDP and lead to job growth, which proves that higher minimum wage equates to higher economic activity. In addition, it has also been found that raising minimum wage would would benefit

The controversy over minimum wage has been ongoing. However, as explained in a Time article by Chris Lu on the subject, now is the prime time to raise the federal minimum wage. “Three out of four Americans support an increase; the economy is healthy; and many employers are already raising wages.” It’s reasonable to be worried about the consequences that raising the minimum wage might have in a time of crisis or unrest, but this quote mentions a healthy economy that would be able to handle the shifts in wages if things went south temporarily. Another argument made by opposers of raising the minimum is that businesses will be unable to survive. On the contrary, a good business will find it beneficial. “‘It’s a simple, but critical, concept: take care of your people and they will take care of your customers.’ For &pizza, higher wages reduce employee turnover, increase productivity and improve customer service.” Rather than hurting the economy, raising the minimum wage will help workers, business owners and the economy itself. A higher wage for all is

Additionally, Section 8 proscribes federation fraudulent labor procedures, which include, in accordance to legal interpretation, failure to provide a reasonable representation to all participants of the bargaining constituent. (Office of the General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board, 1997)

In my report, I will go into detail and show how raising the federal minimum wage would positively effect the economy. In doing so, I will be discussing how an increase in the federal minimum wage would make a vast improvement on the way many low income families live, and also how raising the federal minimum wage would boost the economy as it desperately needs.

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.

The minimum wage should be increased because there are many people who do not have jobs and who need to support themselves. There are millions of adult workers as well who could not go to college or could not afford it and now they have to work. Many workers could have deferred a year and could have several jobs to support for college or family. Therefore, increasing the minimum wage would help millions of people. Raising the minimum wage would decrease dropout rates since most teens drop out because they do not have enough money and would rather work than go to school. It would also increase attendance because now that the workers get paid more, they would want to go to work.

In the 1930’s a huge factor lead to the passage of income continuity, the Great Depression. During the Great Depression scores of businesses failed, and many workers became chronically unemployed (Martoccho, 2015). The Great Depression brought the demise of smaller businesses and forced many to work in the larger factories. Subsequently, these conditions lead to the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). Since 1938 the federal government has broadened the scope of the FLSA in 1947 twice through the passage of two acts: Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (Martoccho, 2015). These acts are depicted to address the child labor provisions, minimum wage, and overtime pay.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended is also referred to as "the Act" or "FLSA". The Act provides for minimum standards for both wages and overtime entitlement, and spells out administrative procedures by which covered work time must be compensated. FLSA also include provisions related to child labor, equal pay, and portal-to-portal activities. A general overview of FLSA is that it establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local government. In 1974 the Fair Labor Standards Act began applying to employees of the United States Federal Government. ( para.1, 2,”

In general the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has set a general rule that allows minor as young as 14 years of age to work. Of course there are limits to the amount of hours worked. The military requires a minimum age of 17 with parents consent to join. Wow a 17 year old can be allowed to carry and M16 A4 rifle and fight for his/her country. But the National Basketball Association wants to up the age to 20 years old.

Labor unions protect our rights as a person in the work force. The Labor Union Act was much needed during the Great Depression because it gave people a voice when they were afraid to speak their thoughts; in fear of being fired, they kept quiet. Once the act was legal, the employers began to become furious because they had to make sure that their employees were treated well, this costed them more money. Many employers were against this act because they were expected to make sure that the work environment was up to par, and the reasons for firing someone has to be justified with evidence. The National Labor Relations Act was successful because it helped decrease labor strikes and raised wages; however, it failed to establish a permanent culture of labor relations in today’s society.

The most prevalent and steadfast myth surrounding the raising of the federal minimum wage is that it will doom the economy. This might seem logical at first, but just think about it for a second. Why do minimum wage employees need more cash? The answer is simple: To spend it, to buy the things that they and their families need to survive. “Most minimum wage workers need this income to make ends meet and spend it quickly, boosting the economy. Research indicates that for every $1 added to the minimum wage, low-wage worker households spent an additional $2,800 the following year” (Fair). Furthermore, EPI estimates that if the federal minimum wage were raised to $10.10 an hour, it would result in over

In the history of the United States many laws have been established. These laws serve as guidelines of behaviors that are acceptable and unacceptable in society. The Fair Labor Standards Act is considered to be an important law because it affects employers and employees in the private sector, Federal, State and local government. It sets labor standards that employers must abide and comes with severe penalties if employers are investigated and found guilty of violating this law.