Employment/Labor Laws: The Fair Labor Standard Act
Employment/Labor Laws: The Fair Labor Standard Act
Introduction
The Fair Labor Standard act of 1938 regulates issues of wage, working hours and overtime in the United States. Subsequent amendments to the act such as the reduction of the working hours from 44 to 40 have all focused on making the working environment friendly. Economic theories indicate that one of the ways to ensure that employment level rise within a population is by reducing the overall working hours of individual already in the workforce. Industries and factories will have no alternative but to increase their employees to keep production levels high, by reducing the mandatory working hours. The emergence of the industrial revolution saw a rise in the number of factories and industries in the country.
As much as this was evidence that the country was in the right path in terms of economic growth, it was an indicator that the established industries would require more man power. As the industries increased, workers become increasingly involved in production (Twomey, 2009, p113). This meant that they had to work for long hours so as to meet the target and demand for raw materials and products. Workers began to work as long as 16hours in a day.
Unfortunately, this was detrimental to their performance and overall health. The workers were exposed in harsh working conditions for long hours in a day. The introduction of the fair labor standard led to the passing of the law that the maximum standards work week is 44 hours. This was later modified to be 40 work week in 1950. The fair standards law ensured that employees were not only working in friendly working conditions, but it also ensured that individuals that were unemployed got an opportunities to find employment. This paper critically looks at employment laws with a focus on various employment laws and how they brought change to the worker. Emphasis shall be on the fair labor standard act and its emphasis on working hours, and minimum wage.
Labor/Employment Laws Refer
Labor/employment laws refer to a set of laws, legal rights and restrictions of workers as well as organizations they work for. These laws came to be with the increasing demand by workers to have better working conditions. Employment laws look into aspects such as the relationship between employers and employees, trade unions and employers. In US, the labor/employment laws refer to state and federal laws that look into the privileges of employees at their respective places of employment. The US labor laws are the ultimate laws that override any other state and federal laws that attempt to govern the labor sector.
Federal laws provide workers with rights as employees. Federal laws also look into the wages and working conditions of the employees (Finegold, 1998, p248). Factors such as minimum wages and working conditions are looked at by the federal laws provided in the US labor laws. Employment labor laws also look to protect the employee from any form of discrimination. There are numerous levels of employee’s discrimination. They include discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnic background and religious affiliation. The employment laws ensure that employees are not discriminated at the workplace.
There are various labor laws; the first category is the individual labor law, which looks at the interest of the employee in relation to the employer and duties that the employee has to perform. Under the individual labor law there is the employment contract that dictates the rights and obligations of the employee and the employer. An employee gets into a contractual agreement with the potential employer. Agreement over duties and responsibilities, pay and rules and regulations of the organizations are outlined. In summary, a contractual dictates what to expect and what is expected when an employee joins an organization. Individual labor law also looks into the aspect of minimum wage. Most countries across the world have laws regarding the minimum wage that employers can pay their employee per hour.
The minimum wage is the least sum of wage that a worker can be paid for any tasks performed. The concern over the minimum age came to light due to increasing concern over the ability of markets to provide income equity for the worker with the least capability. The worker with the least capability is one who has the least potential of getting white collar jobs (Finegold, 1998, p252). The individual thus relies on manual work to earn a living and satisfy his basic needs. The minimum wage concept is thus based on the idea of reduction of poverty.
The third aspect of individual labor law involves the work time of employees. Prior to the industrial revolution workers engaged in production up to 14hours. The emergence of the industrial revolution saw workers exposed to longer working workers that exceeded the 14 hours. The passing of the 8hours working time saw the workforce relived off extreme working hours. Children who were part of the workforce were only allowed to work for 8hours. The adults also enjoyed reduced working hours as they worked for only 12hours.
Other individual labor laws include health and safety laws which look at the well being of the workers at their workplaces. The anti-discriminatory law also aims at preventing discriminatory acts against employees. There are several federal and state anti-discriminatory laws in US. The federal laws, for instance, is a series of various statues such as Title VII, the age discrimination employment act, the disability act and the civil rights acts. Title VII, for instance, prohibits discrimination on any basis (Costa, 2000, p23). The Age discrimination act prohibits discrimination of employment on the basis of age.
Historically, employers had a tendency of not hiring individuals over the age of 40. This was based on the assumption that individuals are old hence will be least productive. The age discrimination employment act protects employees over the age of 40 from age discriminations. The disability act, on the other hand, prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. This meant that individuals that suffered any form of disability, by birth or acquired should enjoy equal opportunities just like the individual without any form of disability. The laws regarding unfair dismissal and issues of child labor are also reviewed under the individual labor laws (Waterhouse, & Colley, 2010, p168).
History of Employment Law
In US, the employment laws were traditionally governed by at-will employment. This common law rule gave employers the rights to hire or fire employees as they wished. The employment law allowed employees to fire employee as long as the reason is not illegal. The employees, on the other hand, were at liberty to quit from their place of employment without giving their employees any notice. At will employment law was applicable in all spheres as long as the employer and employee did not share any contractual obligation. Any contractual obligations would otherwise bind the employee or the employer until the term ends (Twomey, 2009, p53).
Regardless of the liberties that the employee and employer enjoyed workers found At-will-employment unfavorable as it encouraged discriminations. At will employment was preferred by most employers as they did not need to have a contractual provision with the employee. This meant that the employer did not have any legal and binding contract with the employees. As the at will doctrine became unpopular, other employment laws such as the fair employments act which prohibited racial discrimination and Title I act which prohibited discrimination on grounds of disabilities were passed.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
The Fair Labor Standards Act was approved in 1938 to look into the working hours of the employees. When passed in 1938, the act required that employees work for 44 hours. The 44 working hours were to be completed in a period of seven days. FLSA also established a minimum wage for the workers and passed that employees be paid for overtime. The journey towards improved wages and working hours is contributed to Alabama congressman Hugo Black. In 1932, he brought a bill that aimed to that would forbid commerce that required workers to work for more than 36 hours a week. However, legal consideration proved a barrier to his efforts (Barnes, & Lafferty, 2010, p8).
Subsequent efforts to determine the legal minimum wage were squashed by the Supreme Court which felt that the executive branch had overstepped its mandate. It is only after President Roosevelt intervention that bills such as wages-hours bill were passed. Alabama congressman, Black, reintroduced the bill which was now modified to include 40cents per hour minimum wage, 40hours maximum work week and the minimum age of 16. After various discussions and consultations, the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed. It allowed for a minimum wage of 25cents, and a 40hour work week. The act covered all employee and employers were required to adhere to it. An advisory wage board was established to look into wage modification, which depended on transportation and cost of living (Cihon, & Castagnera, 2010, p98).
The passing of FLSA also saw child labor prohibited. Under FLSA, children under the age of 16 were not to work as it would constitute child labor. In hazardous working environments, the act required that children under 18years were not allowed to work. There was a need to establish a labor standard that did not have any grey areas. FLSA defines terms such as employer so as to clarify when and how is affected by the fair standards. According to FLSA, an employer is an individual who acts in the interest of the employee, in terms of provision of working opportunities. However, the term employer and employee do not refer to anyone employed by an employer if the field of agriculture, yet the employer is a relative or a next of kin e.g. a spouse. Specifically the act prohibited the inclusion of minors in oppressive child labor (Howard, 2000, p37).
During this period, children were employed in industries and farms. Without any considering that they were children, they were exposed to harsh working conditions. This led to an increase in mortality rates as children succumbed to work related illnesses. FLSA was passed with the aim of eliminating labor conditions that are unfavorable to the well being of the workers. The act stipulated that workers who worked for more than 40 hours should have a certain minimum wage and also enjoy an overtime premium of one and halt times the straight wage (Costa, 2000, p19).
The laws was passed with the intention of reduce worker exploitation, which affected the workers health and general efficiency at the workplace. Another incentive towards passing of the act was so as to increasing employment. Employees overworked the existing workers so as to reduce the total employees hired.
Overworking reduced efficient of employees; it also reduced employment opportunities as employers preferred to hire a few workers and overwork them. Reducing the working hours to 44 and increasing overtime pay encouraged employers to hire more employees instead. With more employees, tasks are completed on time and the need for overtime pay ceases. BY 1950, the working hours for the employees had reduced to 40 hours. The fair labor standards act covered employees in commerce and also those that engage in production. This meant that employees who earned approximately $500000 in gross sales were not covered with the act (Waterhouse, & Colley, 2010, p157).
FLSA, in other words, did not cover individuals who were considered to belong to the white collar professions. These were professions such as administrations and executive employees. FLSA also covered only individual hired by employers. This meant that individual working as independent contractors and those who work as volunteers in various capacities were not covered.
FLSA Today
The 40hour week can be traced to the industrial revolution when industries involved their employees in long working hours. Employees could work as long as 16hours a day. This depended on the desire of the employers. Unfortunately, long working hours impeded on effectiveness and efficiency of work as employees became sick often and suffered from burn-out. The introduction of the 40hour a week meant that employers were not required to operate for only 8hours a day per employee (Barnes, & Lafferty, 2010, p8). This was an enormous relief for the overworked employee as it guaranteed that he had time to rejuvenate. Women also had time to engage in other household chores as they only worked for 8 hours.
Even though the 40 hours week, reduced overload and overwork critics argue that the effect of this implementation were minimal. They argue that most countries with similar living standards to the US during the 1950’s still remain dissatisfied with the working schedule. Critics thus argue that more modifications such as working for five days must be implemented. Reducing the working hours further in the current society means that societies can actively participate in energy saving strategies.
So far two states, Hawaii and Washington have attempted the 4-5day working in a week. A 2010 study conducted by UK new economics foundation argues that a shorter week for employees may be the best alternative for economies (Finegold, 1998, p258). This is because they give employees an opportunity to address other personal issues that may affect their efficiency at work. These issues include overwork, pollution, reduced well being and lack of time to enjoy personal life. The factor of unemployment will also be reduced. Shorter working hours for the employees mean that industries/organization will require additional workforce.
Currently, the FLSA act hardly appliers. Employees are working more than 8 hours a day in an effort to impress their supervisors. In the economic downturn, many employees were laid off. The increasing job insecurity has led to employees taking more time at their work as an indicator of dedication and commitment. The massive lays off also took organizations back to the 50’s when there were few workers, but more responsibilities and task to be performed. The need to work overtime is unavoidable as the massive layoffs have led to employee deficit (Howard, 2000, p34).
This has left the remaining employee overworked as they have to perform tasks that would otherwise be performed by more than one person. According to a study conducted by the international labor organization, over 500 million workers all over the world work for more than 48 hours a week. This is attributed to increasing cost of life which leaves the worker with no alternative but to work for longer hours so as sustain himself. Another 22% of workers work for more than 48 hours. These statistics put into question the practicality of the FLSA act.
FLSA on Overtime
FLSA describes overtime as the time that an individual works beyond the recommended threshold. Precisely, FLSA stipulates the normal work period is the work week, which is the seven consecutive days. The threshold working hours according to FLSA is 40hours per work week. Overtime thus describes the time beyond the 40 hours per week stipulated by FLSA. Under FLSA, if the sum number of toiled hours is less than 40, then the employee is not liable to receive any overtime pay due. Different employers have different scenarios where they use the term Overtime. Some employers may apply the term to refer to work that is to be done beyond the ordinary work environment of the employee (Cihon, & Castagnera, 2010, p74).
Therefore, if the working hours, inclusive outside environment, do not go beyond 40 hours, then the employee is not liable for overtime payment. When discussing the concept of overtime, the idea of maximum hours arises. FLSA stipulates that unless in exceptional circumstances provided by law, an employer must not expose his employees to work beyond the stipulated 40 hours. This can only occur when there is an agreement by the employer to compensate the employee for the extra hours.
Conclusion
The fair labor standards act applies to all employees involved in commerce as well as those involved in the production of goods for commercial purposes. FLSA was enacted by congress in 1938 in an effort to change the detrimental labor conditions of workers. Many other labor/employment laws have been passed since the industrial revolution. Most of these laws look into the interest and rights of the worker. The FSLA, for instance, looked to establish better working conditions by reducing the working hours to 44in a work week. Further amendment saw the working hours reduced to 40.
This gave the worker more time to revive himself, attend to personal matters and balance his work and personal life. Overall, like all other employment regulations passed, the fair labor standard has been a vital legislation in the history of American. The act considered the lowest paid worker by establishing a legal minimum wage for all workers. This led to a significant reduction of poverty levels as the lowest worker got a sustainable amount of income. The act has also ensured that employees have a healthy balance of work and personal life.
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