The Fair Labor Standards Act - 1845 Words

Believe it or not, before 1938, there was a time when children as young as 8-10 years old (sometimes even younger) would be forced to work until midnight or later in America during the time of the industrial revolution (Bennett-Alexander Hartman, 2001). There were simply no laws to regulate the maximum number of hours that children could work, how old they had to be, or how much they had to at least be paid. Thus, in 1938, Congress invoked its constitutional powers to regulate interstate commerce and passed a law known as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that addresses these malpractices by employers. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting†¦show more content†¦Meanwhile, a covered enterprise is the related activities performed through unified operation or common control by any person (or persons) for a common business purpose who also meets at least one of these 3 standards (United States Department of Labor, 2016b): 1. Their annual gross volume of sales made or business done is not less than $500,000 (exclusive of excise taxes at the retail level that are separately stated); or 2. They are engaged in the operation of a hospital, an institution primarily engaged in the care of the sick, the aged, or the mentally ill who reside on the premises; a school for mentally or physically disabled or gifted children; a preschool, an elementary or secondary school, or an institution of higher education (whether operated for profit or not for profit); or 3. It is an activity of a public agency. It is important to note that the first standard aforementioned has been updated over time to keep up with current market trends and annual gross income levels in the United States. For example, the standard used to be $362,500 in 1995, but is $500,000 now. Any enterprise that was covered by the FLSA on March 31, 1990, and that ceased to be covered because of the