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In 1938, those who advocated strict federal legislation of child labor were encouraged when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed. The Act specified minimum wage and maximum hours for adults and included among its provisions the prohibition of interstate transport of goods manufactured in places where minors were performing the labor. For the purposes of this act, children were defined as individuals under the age of sixteen, or under the age of eighteen, employed in occupations designated as hazardous by the Children's Bureau. The Children's Bureau was allowed the freedom exempt fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds in certain trades under certain conditions, as the situation dictated.
Specifically, under California’s child labor laws, virtually all minors under the age of 18 are entitled to protection under California’s child labor laws. Under the California Labor Code, the term "minor” refers to anyone under the age of 18 who is required by provisions of the Education code, to attend school. This includes minors under the age of six who are not yet old enough to attend school. The California Labor Code also indicates that “high school graduates under the age of 18, who are not subject to the compulsory education laws, are entirely excluded from permit requirements, work hour restrictions, and all occupational prohibitions”. Although, under this same regulation, high school graduates may not be employed in “an occupation prohibited to minors under 18 unless they have also completed a bona fide course of training in that occupation”.
Children who worked in occupations such as acting and agriculture are exempt when legally not required to be in school. There are also exemptions involved in the FLSA’s enforcement of minimum wage laws. The FLSA provides for the employment of certain individuals at wage rates below the statutory minimum. These individuals include student-learners such as vocational education students, as well as full-time students in retail or service establishments, agriculture, or institutions of higher education. Individuals who are impaired by a physical or mental disability are also exempted because their earning or productivity capacity can be somewhat limited. This includes those individuals whose disability is related to age or injury. Employment at less than the minimum wage is designed to expand opportunities for employment.
The current minimum wage is clearly defined as $5.15 per hour for most covered workers, however The FLSA does not define exactly what “minimum wage” is supposed to mean in relation to comfortable living standards. Under current law, a minimum wage worker, employed full-time and full-year (40 hours per week for 52 weeks at $5.15) would earn $10,712. This is not exactly “livable”, especially for a family, however the intent of minimum wage is not to protect a primary means of support, but a supplemental one.
Of additional importance is that individuals can make extra income by working overtime, which helps make minimum wage more livable. The FLSA states clearly that 40 hours is the maximum number of hours an employee may work within the seven-day, 168-hour workweek before an employer is required to pay overtime. Workers who exceed 40 hours in a given workweek must be paid at least one-and-a-half times their regular hourly rate. The regulations are quite detailed. For example, whichever day of the week is selected as the start of the workweek, the employer must use the same seven-day period to calculate overtime hours. Employers are not allowed to average out the hours worked by an employee over several weeks. Overtime pay must be based on the regular hourly rate, although the Act does not mandate that employers pay their employees by the hour. Thus salaried employees are exempt from this stipulation and may work countless hours of overtime with no extra pay.
Because of Department of Labor regulations, employers are required to maintain detailed records on wages, hours, and other vital employee information. These records may be kept on paper, microfilm, or data processing memory, and payroll records, employment contracts, and collective bargaining agreements must be preserved for three years. The DOL’s Wage and Hours Division is permitted to sue employers who fail to comply with the Act. Current or former employees are also allowed to sue, either individually or in a class action suit, in state or federal court. They can request back wages in instances in which minimum wage or overtime was not properly allocated. In addition to reinstatement and back pay awards, several federal appeals courts have awarded punitive damages under the Act for retaliatory discharge. The Labor Secretary may also fine repeat offenders as much as $1,000 per violation, and in rare instances, the Attorney General may seek criminal sanctions for willful violations of the FLSA, which are punishable by up to $10,000 in fines and six months’ imprisonment. Employees in many cases also recover their legal fees and have been known to receive double damages in cases of willful violations.
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