What U.S. federal law established the national minimum wage, overtime pay, and child-labor rules in 1938?
Answer
Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act established the U.S. federal minimum wage, overtime pay, and child-labor rules in 1938.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the law on June 25, 1938, during the New Deal. It initially created a minimum hourly wage of 25 cents and required time-and-a-half pay for covered employees working more than 40 hours in a workweek.
The act also restricted many forms of child labor, although its coverage and rules have changed through later amendments. The law is administered and enforced mainly by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.
A common mix-up is confusing the FLSA with the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRA, passed in 1935, primarily protects collective bargaining and union activity; it did not create the federal minimum wage. State and local governments may set higher wage floors than the federal level.