Committee on Education and Labor : U.S. House of Representatives

Press Releases

Chairman Miller, Chairwoman Woolsey Commemorate 70th Anniversary of Fair Labor Standards Act

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

 

WASHINGTON, DC --Today marks the 70th anniversary of the landmark Fair Labor Standards Act, signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on June 25, 1938. U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) praised the law’s importance for improving the lives of American workers and their families, but said that more must be done to strengthen the law – particularly in light of the Bush administration’s efforts to weaken it over the last several years.

“The Fair Labor Standards Act – enacted in 1938 – was landmark legislation for workers in this country,” said Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.  “The law’s provisions for minimum wages, overtime pay, and a ban on oppressive child labor provided workers with baseline protections against being overworked or underpaid. Seventy years later it is clear that we need to renew our commitment to these fundamental rights.” 

“Seventy years after the Fair labor Standards Act was signed into law, we still have more work to do on behalf of American workers,” said Woolsey.  “Over the past eight years President Bush and his allies haven’t missed an opportunity to weaken workplace safety protections, and have abandoned their oversight responsibilities all together.  Even the Department of Labor has looked the other way when millions of workers are misclassified as contractors to strip them of their rights under the FLSA.  Enough is enough.  It’s time for the NRLB to be strengthened and for American workers to share in the benefits of this nation.”

Minimum Wage: One of the Democratic-led Congress’s first initiatives was to amend the FLSA to provide for the first minimum wage increase in a decade.  Signed into law in May 2007, the provisions increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 by 2009, in three steps.  The next step, to $6.55 per hour, comes next month.  The law has resulted in long-overdue pay raises for millions of American workers.

Child Labor: Democrats enacted legislation this year amending the FLSA to increase penalties against employers that violate the law’s child labor provisions.

Wage-and-Hour Enforcement: The House Education and Labor Committee and the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections are conducting ongoing oversight into wage and hour issues. Miller cited staffing issues at the Department’s Wage and Hour Division, which enforces the seventy-year-old FLSA. As of the end of fiscal year 2007, the Division had only 732 total investigators nationwide – one investigator for every 10,000 employers.  This is down from 949 total investigators at the end of the 2001 fiscal year.  “The Bush administration has been a disaster for working people,” said Miller. “The Department of Labor’s enforcement efforts have been gutted during President Bush’s time in office.” 

Misclassification of Workers: Hearings held last year by the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections and the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions highlighted the growing problem of employers misclassifying workers as “independent contractors.”  Once a worker is classified as an independent contractor, he or she loses employment rights, such as the right to overtime pay guaranteed by the FLSA. Woolsey and U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) have introduced legislation to toughen enforcement measures against employee misclassification, which has affected millions of workers.

Home Health Aides: Woolsey has introduced legislation to address last year’s Supreme Court decision in Long Island Home Care v. Coke, which limited the Fair Labor Standards Act in a growing area of employment:  home health care work.

“One of the gaps in the Fair Labor Standards Act that must be filled is to provide home health care workers with the benefits of minimum wage and overtime pay,” said Woolsey, the chief sponsor of Fair Home Health Care Act, H.R. 3582.  “When Congress created this exemption, it never intended to exclude workers who are ‘regular breadwinners,’ and provide valuable services to our nation’s older Americans and people with disabilities.  Providing home health care workers with FLSA wage protections will not only provide them with a living wage but will help attract workers to this rapidly growing occupation.”

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