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_______________________________

Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies

Cornell University

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau

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Congressional Research Service (CRS)

 

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): An Overview

Gerald Mayer, Analyst in Labor Policy

Benjamin Collins, Analyst in Labor Policy

David H. Bradley, Specialist in Labor Economics

June 4, 2013

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42713.pdf

[full-text, 26 pages]

 

Summary

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides workers with minimum wage, overtime pay, and

child labor protections. The FLSA covers most, but not all, private and public sector employees.

In addition, certain employers and employees are exempt from coverage.

 

Provisions of the FLSA that are of current interest to Congress include the basic minimum wage,

subminimum wage rates, exemptions from overtime and the minimum wage for persons who

provide companionship services, the exemption for employees in computer-related occupations,

compensatory time (“comp time”) in lieu of overtime pay, and break time for nursing mothers.

 

Basic Minimum Wage

 

• The FLSA requires employers to pay covered, nonexempt employees at least the

minimum wage. In 2007, the basic minimum wage was raised, in steps, from

$5.15 to $7.25 an hour. The basic minimum wage was raised to $7.25 an hour

effective July 24, 2009. As of January 1, 2013, 19 states and the District of

Columbia have minimum wage rates that are higher than the federal minimum

wage rate.

• Basic minimum wage rates in American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the

Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are lower than in the continental United

States. In 2007, Congress passed the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-

28), which mandated annual increases of $0.50 an hour in the minimum wages of

American Samoa and CNMI. In 2010, Congress temporarily suspended these

increases. The minimum wage in CNMI increased by $0.50 an hour to $5.55 on

September 30, 2012. In July 2012, Congress delayed the increases in American

Samoa. The next minimum wage increases in American Samoa are scheduled for

September 30, 2015.

 

Subminimum Wage Rates

 

• Tipped employees may be paid less than the basic minimum wage, but their cash

wage plus tips must equal at least the basic minimum wage of $7.25. Employers

may pay tipped workers $2.13 an hour in cash wages, provided the employees

receive at least $5.12 an hour in tips. The latter amount is called a “tip credit.”

• Employers may pay special minimum wages (SMWs) to workers with

disabilities. The purpose of the SMWs is to provide persons with disabilities the

opportunity to work.

 

Overtime

 

• The FLSA requires employers to pay at least time-and-a-half to covered,

nonexempt employees who work more than 40 hours in a week at a given job.

• The FLSA allows covered, nonexempt state and local government employees to

receive compensatory time off (comp time) for hours worked over 40 in a

workweek. Comp time is time off with pay in lieu of overtime pay.

 

Exemptions

 

• The FLSA exempts certain employers and employees from the minimum wage,

overtime pay, or child labor standards of the act.

• Certain employees in computer-related occupations are exempt from both the

minimum wage and overtime standards of the FLSA if they meet an hourly wage

or weekly salary test and a job duties test.

 

Domestic service workers who provide companionship services in private homes are exempt from

both the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the FLSA. Under regulations proposed by

the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), minimum wage and overtime coverage would be extended

to companions employed by a third party. Overtime pay would be extended to live-in domestic

service workers employed by a third party.

 

Contents

The Fair Labor Standards Act .......................................................................................................... 1

Who Is Covered by the FLSA? ........................................................................................................ 2

Relation of the FLSA to State Laws ................................................................................................ 3

Minimum Wage Rates ...................................................................................................................... 3

The Basic Minimum Wage ........................................................................................................ 4

Tipped Workers.......................................................................................................................... 4

Workers with Disabilities .......................................................................................................... 5

New Hires Under the Age of 20 ................................................................................................ 5

Full-Time Students .................................................................................................................... 6

Student Learners ........................................................................................................................ 6

Minimum Wage Rates in the Territories and Possessions of the United States ......................... 6

Overtime .......................................................................................................................................... 7

Comp Time in Lieu of Overtime Pay ........................................................................................ 7

Break Time for Nursing Mothers............................................................................................... 8

Exemptions from the Minimum Wage or Overtime Standards of the FLSA ................................... 8

Executive, Administrative, and Professional Employees .......................................................... 8

Outside Salespersons ............................................................................................................... 10

Employees in Computer-Related Occupations ........................................................................ 11

Domestic Service Employees .................................................................................................. 12

Child Labor .................................................................................................................................... 14

 

Tables

Table A-1. Federal Minimum Wage Laws ..................................................................................... 20

Table A-2. Minimum Wage Rates in the States and Other Jurisdictions, as of January 1, 2013 ................................. 21

Table A-3. List of Acronyms .......................................................................................................... 22

 

Appendixes

Appendix. Major Amendments to the FLSA, Federal Minimum Wage Rates, and List of Acronyms................................. 17

 

Contacts

Author Contact Information........................................................................................................... 22

Key Policy Staff ............................................................................................................................. 22

 

 

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