fair labor standards act

The Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") of 1938 is federal legislation of the United States. The FLSA established a national minimum wage, guaranteed time and a half for overtime, and prohibited most employment of minors. The law originally contained a large number of special industry exemptions, many of which were designed to protect traditional pay practices in small, rural businesses. The bulk of these exemptions have been repealed. Currently, the most important issues relate to the so-called "white collar" exemptions applicable to professional, administrative and executive employees. The FLSA is administered by the Wage & Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor, which conducts audits and workplace inspections. The Administrator of the Wage & Hour Division has no unilateral enforcement authority, but may bring a lawsuit in federal court. As a practical matter, this is relatively rare. The FLSA provides for direct federal actions by employees, and offers substantial financial incentives for private litigants and their counsel. The most contentious issues in recent years relate to technical employees, such as computer programmers, who have a significant degree of specialized knowledge without formal academic credentials. Such employees often exercise no direct management or even administrative authority, and so are arguably ineligible for any of the FLSA white collar exemptions. By legislative amendment, some employees of this sort are now exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA, but many unsettled issues remain. On August 23, 2004, controversial changes to the FLSA's overtime laws went into effect, making substantial modifications to the definition of an "exempt" employee. These changes were sought by business interests and the Bush administration, which claimed that the laws needed clarification and that few workers would be affected. But other organizations, such as the AFL-CIO, claimed the changes would make millions of additional workers ineligible for overtime.

<< Previous

Word Browser

Next >>

farm credit administration
civil works administration
agricultural adjustment act
works progress administration
glass steagal act
gramm rudman hollings balanced budget act
gramm latta budget
kemp roth tax cut
tax reform act of 1986
voting rights act
great society

medicare
medicaid
national environmental protection act
full employment act
trade expansion act
thessaly
federal housing administration
johnson act
reciprocal trade agreements act
tydings mcduffie act
neutrality act

motor carrier act
national labor relations act
robinson patman act
wheeler lea act
cash and carry
selective service act
thirteenth amendment
smith act
lend lease
office of price administration
presidential succession act

taft hartley act
mutual security act
mccarran internal security act
internal security act
bob dole
national defense education act
g. i. bill of rights
gus hall
linz
innsbruck
salzburg (state)