The 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act creates the right to a minimum wage, and “time-and-a-half” pay when people work over 40 hours a week. It also prohibits most employment of minors in “oppressive child labor.” The law applies to employees and enterprises engaged in or producing goods for interstate commerce. States can still regulate their internal child labor force but federal rules are usually, although not always, applied if they are stricter. Read more about labor laws over the last century in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
