Labor Laws You Need to Know
All employers must understand and follow pertinent national labor laws. In addition, your organization must ensure full compliance with the applicable labor laws in the particular states in which it operates.
In this article, we provide an overview of some of the labor laws with which your organization must comply to ensure worker rights and avoid legal trouble.
Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which prescribes standards for basic minimum wage and overtime pay, affects most private and public employment. This labor law requires employers to pay covered employees who are not otherwise exempt at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay of one-and-one-half-times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Several states have minimum wage labor laws that are more generous than the national minimum wage labor law.
The child labor law provisions of the FLSA require that an employee must be at least 16 years old to work in most non-farm jobs and at least 18 to work in non-farm jobs declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor. According to this labor law, youths 14 and 15 years old may work outside school hours in various non-manufacturing, non-mining, non-hazardous jobs only if they work no more than 3 hours on a school day or 18 hours in a school week; 8 hours on a non-school day or 40 hours in a non-school week.
National Labor Relations Act
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was designed to promote collective bargaining between labor and management and to assure workers the right to organize and join a union without fear of reprisal. This labor law guarantees employees the right to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers, or to refrain from all such activity. The NLRA requires employers to recognize unions representing a simple majority of their employees.
Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a labor law that provides an entitlement of up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave during any 12-month period to eligible, covered employees for reasons involving birth or adoption of a child, care of a seriously ill family member, or care of the employee’s own health condition.
Application of the FMLA can also be impacted by other labor laws, including the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
In states with their own version of FMLA, covered employers must comply with the federal or state labor law that provides the greater benefit to their employees.