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Student name: _____________________________________ Date: _____________
MODULE 30
Describe labor regulations that affect wages,
hours, and conditions of employment.
Objectives:
A. Identify hazardous occupations.
B. List minimum age standards.
C.
Define wages.
MODULE 30: INFORMATION SHEET
TO THE STUDENT:
Read and study this information sheet and then complete the student activities
at the end of this module.
What is the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act?
The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act provides standards for the employment of minors. These provisions are designed to confine the employment of minors to periods which will not interfere with their schooling and to conditions which will not jeopardize their health and well-being.
All
states have child labor laws and all but one have compulsory school attendance
laws. These state laws or other federal laws may have higher standards than
those established under the Fair Labor Standards Act. When these other laws are
applicable, THE MORE STRINGENT STANDARDS MUST BE OBSERVED.
Who is exempt from the requirements?
Some working minors are exempt from the Child Labor Requirements in Nonagricultural Occupations. They are:
1. Children
under 16 years old employed by their parents in occupations other than manufacturing
or mining or occupations declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor.
2. Children
engaged in the delivery of newspapers to the consumer.
3. Children
employed as actors or performers in motion pictures, theatrical, radio or
television productions.
4. Homeworkers
engaged in making wreaths composed principally of natural holly, pine, cedar
or other evergreens.
5. Domestic service employees working in or about the
household of the employer.
Employment Relationships
An employment relationship requires an "employer" and an "employee," and the act or condition of employment. Mere knowledge by an employer of work done for him or her by another is sufficient to create an employment relationship under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Wages
Minimum Wage
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, all covered, non-exempt workers are entitled to the established, minimum hourly wage rate of $5.15 per hour (as of September 1, 1997) and should receive overtime pay at a rate of at least one and one-half times their regular rates of pay after 40 hours of work in a work week. However, no provision or order of the FLSA excuses noncompliance with any federal or state law that establishes higher standards.
Tipped Employees
Employers who elect to use the tip credit provision must inform their employees in advance and must be able to show that the employees receive at least the minimum wage when direct wages and the tip credit allowance are combined. Also, employees must retain all of their tips, except to the extent that they participate in a valid tip pooling or sharing arrangement.
A
"tipped employee" under FLSA is any employee engaged in an occupation
in which he/she customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in
tips. If an employee's tips, regardless of whether they are full-time or
part-time, do not total more than $30 a month, he/she must receive the full
minimum wage without any deduction for the tips received.
Workweek
A workweek is a regular recurring period of 168 hours in the form of seven consecutive 24-hour periods. The workweek need not be the same as the calendar week and may begin on any day of the week, at any hour of the day.
Sub Minimum Wages
The
Fair Labor Standards Act provides for the employment of certain individuals at
sub minimum wages to prevent the curtailment of their employment opportunities.
Before such individuals may be employed at sub minimum wages, a certificate
must be obtained from the Wage and Hour Division of the United States
Department of Labor.
Regulations
governing the conditions under which sub minimum wage certificates may be
issued are prescribed by the Secretary of Labor.
The following conditions must be satisfied before a special certificate may be issued authorizing the employment of a student-learner at sub minimum wages:
1. The occupation
must not be one for which a student-learner application was previously submitted
by the employer and a special certificate was denied.
2. The student-learner's
employment must be directly related to his/her course of study and cooperative
education training program.
3. The training
program under which the student-learner will be employed must be a bona fide
cooperative education training program.
4. The employment
of the student-learner at a sub minimum wage must be necessary to prevent curtailment of opportunities
for employment.
5. The student-learner
must be at least 16 years of age unless he/she is to be employed in an occupation
that has been declared hazardous, in which case the student-learner must be
18 years old.
6. The occupation
for which the student-learner is receiving preparatory training must require
a sufficient degree of skill to necessitate a substantial learning period.
7. The training
must not be for the purpose of acquiring manual dexterity and high production
speed in repetitive operations.
8. The employment of a student-learner must not displace
a company's regular worker.
Hazardous Occupations Orders
The Fair Labor Standards Act provides a minimum age of 18 years for any nonagricultural occupation which the Secretary of Labor "shall find and by order declare" to be particularly hazardous or detrimental to the health and well-being of minors under that age. Seventeen hazardous occupations orders now in effect are as follows:
1. Manufacturing
and storing explosives
2. Motor-vehicle
driving and outside helper
3. Coal
mining
4. Logging
and saw-milling
5. Power-driven
woodworking machines
6. Exposure
to radioactive substances
7. Power-driven
hoisting apparatus
8. Power-driven
metal-forming, punching, and shearing machines
9. Mining,
other than coal mining
10. Slaughtering,
or meat-packing, processing or rendering
11. Power-driven
bakery machines
12. Power-driven
paper-products machines
13. Manufacturing
brick, tile, and kindred products
14. Power-driven
circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears
15. Wrecking,
demolition, and shipbreaking operations
16. Roofing
operations
17. Excavation
operations
Exemptions to hazardous occupations
There
are some exemptions to this minimum age standard. Apprentices and Cooperative Education student-learners* who are at least 16-year-olds may be granted
exemptions from the following hazardous occupations orders:
5. Power-driven
woodworking machines
8. Power-driven
metal-forming, punching, and shearing machines
10. Slaughtering,
or meat-packing, processing or rendering
12. Power-driven
paper-products machines
14. Power-driven
circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears
16. Roofing
operations
17. Excavations
operations
*Student-learner -- is a student who is at least 16 years of age, is receiving
instruction in an accredited school, and is employed on a part-time basis under
a bona fide cooperative education training program administered by the school.
Minimum age standards