The Law Behind Rising Workplace Wage and Hour Litigation | USA
Bill Martucci, head of Shook, Hardy & Bacon’s Employment, Litigation and Employment practice, introduces the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Bill discusses the origins of the Fair Labor Standards Act in the Great Depression and the controversy over what it should cover. Not only does it set a minimum wage but it also provides for overtime. Crucially, at a time of mass unemployment, the provision of overtime was intended to encourage employers to hire more people.
The role of the Department of Labor and the Wage and Hour Administration in implementing the law and permitting lawsuits to be brought is also touched on.
“Those provisions have caused the greatest explosion of litigation that we have known in the American workplace over the last number of years, and it continues.”
Finally, Bill considers what the Act does and doesn't do. While establishing minimum hourly wages and overtime, it does not regulate holidays or vacation time, raises and fringe benefits, or notice of dismissal.
Shook, Hardy & Bacon
