Analysis of the Fair Labor Standards Act - BHR 3301 Course

This essay provides an overview of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, discussing its historical context, creation, and influence on human resources and compensation. It explores how the act was designed to protect workers from abuses, establish minimum wage and overtime pay, and limit working hours. The essay also examines the proposed rule changes by the Department of Labor in 2016, the impact of the act on employers and employees (exempt vs. non-exempt), and offers an opinion supporting the act's role in reducing income inequality and preventing employer abuses. Furthermore, the analysis includes references to relevant academic articles and publications.

Running head: THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT
The Fair Labor Standards Act
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1THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT
The Fair Labor Standards Act 1938 is the chosen U.S Federal Pay Regulations.
History of the Act
On 25 June, 1938, 121 bills were signed by President Franklin and the Fair Labor Standards
Act was one of them (Macpherson, 2017). During those times, this act was applied only to
the industries or companies whose combined employment was one-fifth of the total labor
force. Senator Hugo Black had drafted this bill in the year 1932. His proposal requires the
employers to accept the 34 hours workweek faced stiff resistance. In the year 1938,the bill
was revised again where the 34 hours workweek was changed to 40 hours and that allowed
the workers to earn more wage for working extra hours. According to this Act, the workers
must be paid with the minimum wage as well as the overtime pay should be a one and a half
times that of the regular pay.
Why it was created
It was created in order to protect the workers from the buses that were taking place at the time
of Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression. It was passed to create a minimum wage,
to protect the children in the workplace, to establish an overtime pay and to limit the amount
or number of working hours in a week (Reich, 2015). It was created to put a vault over the
working hours and a ground under the wages by establishing a final minimum of forty cents,
maximum of forty weekly working hours and disallowing the child labor which was
prevailing at those times (Harris & Krueger, 2015).
How it influenced the area of human resources and compensation
This act has mandated the employer concession with restrictions that is related to the
minimum wages, child labor, overtime provisions and the workplace safety. It manages the
employer compliance along with the laws of employment that was earlier affecting the

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workers pay and their fair work environments (LeRoy, 2017). In the absence of this act,
regulating the unfair employer’s practices would be very difficult as the workers would have
very little resources for filing the complaints against their own companies. It has also
benefited the young workers (less than 16years of age) by letting them have limitations on the
number of hours they are allowed to work during their school days and their non-school days.
What the future holds for the act
Department of Labor has proposed a rule change in the year 2016 for the FLSA Overtime
Rule. According to this rule, there will be an increase in the total number of workers who are
eligible for the overtime pay. It is expected that it affect over 4.2 million numbers of workers
in the U.S (Perez, 2015). The new rule is also increasing the salary level of the EAP
employees up to 47,476 dollars and also allows the level of salary to be updated in every
three years and that too with 150 days of advanced notice. The main purpose of this new rule
is to increase the overtime pay for the low-pay. This rule is expected to hit the hospitality,
retail, non-profit as well government sectors the hardest.
How it affected the employer and the employee
The employees whose works are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act are classified as
either exempt or non-exempt (Hainmueller & Hiscox, 2015). It requires the covered
employers to pay the non-exempt employees a minimum wage for every hour and an
overtime pay for every extra hours worked as well. The exempt employees are not allowed to
the overtime pay. FLSA breaks into three major categories of executive, administrative and
professional. The executives supervise more than one employees and their primary duty is
management. The category of professionals includes jobs which require specialized training
and education and it involves the use of judgment and discretion. The duties of the

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administrative on the other hand include the business support such as public relations,
accounting and human resources staff.
Do you agree with this act? Why or why not?
Yes, I do agree with the Fair Labor Standards Act 1938 as it has reduced the income gap
between the rich and the poor. It has also helped in preventing abuses by the employers. In
addition to this, the bill also eliminates legal bargaining with the desperate employees in
order to get them to work for unsatisfactory amount. This law has also enabled the adults to
keep their jobs. Along with a minimum of the wage in the work place, the adult people who
rely on their paychecks in order to pay their bills and for surviving could keep their jobs
rather than entering into the competition with the employees or workers who are less
experienced and who would or else be willing for working on the same job for comparatively
less amount of money. Along with this, this law has enabled the rich companies to divide and
share more amount of money that they earn with the employees who have helped them to
earn it.

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References:
Hainmueller, J., & Hiscox, M. J. (2015). The socially conscious consumer? Field
experimental tests of consumer support for fair labor standards.
Harris, S. D., & Krueger, A. B. (2015). A Proposal for Modernizing Labor Laws for Twenty-
First-Century Work: The" Independent Worker". Hamilton Project, Brookings.
LeRoy, M. H. (2017). Misclassification under the Fair Labor Standards Act: Court Rulings
and Erosion of the Employment Relationships. U. Chi. Legal F., 327.
Macpherson, A. S. (2017). Birth of the US Colonial Minimum Wage: The Struggle over the
Fair Labor Standards Act in Puerto Rico, 1938–1941. The Journal of American
History, 104(3), 656-680.
Perez, T. E. (2015). The Fair Labor Standards Act: A Living Document. Industrial Relations:
A Journal of Economy and Society, 54(4), 529-532.
Reich, M. (2015). The ups and downs of minimum wage policy: The Fair Labor Standards
Act in historical perspective. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and
Society, 54(4), 538-546.