Prior to the late 1930s, there were no significant legal constraints on the hours that employers could require employees to work or minimum amounts that employers were required to pay employees for their work. Likewise, there were no regulations governing work by children. Thus, it was not uncommon in the 1800s for workers to work six days or even seven days per week for their employers. Despite these long hours, many workers could not earn enough money to live above a subsistence level due to the low wages paid. The need for families to earn enough to survive led also to the employment of children as young as four or five years old for long hours in such hazardous settings as mines or industrial workplaces.
Public concern about these situations finally lead to the enactment, in 1938, of the Fair Labor Standards Act by the Congress of the United States. The principal impact of this federal statute is its establishment of
- minimum hourly wages (revised upwards in the years since 1938);
- a required payment of an overtime premium by employers to employees who work overtime, in most cases, resulting in extra pay for each hour an employee works over 40 in a particular week; and
- limits concerning the hours and type of work that may be performed by minors.
The FLSA is enforced by the United States Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. Individual employees, though, also have the right to file claims in court based on minimum-wage, overtime, or equal-pay violations of the statute by their employers. The statute of limitations governing when the Wage and Hour Division or individual employees can make timely FLSA violation claims against employers is ordinarily two years from the date of the last violation. However, the statute of limitations is extended to three years if the employer is found to have willfully–that is, intentionally or recklessly–violated the law.