Fair Labor Standards Act Celebrates 75th Anniversary
A recent study by William Lester of the University of North Carolina and Ken Jacobs of the University of California-Berkeley found no difference in employment levels between comparable cities with and without living wage laws. They disproved the claim that these laws drive away business or lead to reduced employment while also providing evidence that fair minimum wages are good for the economy.
States such as California continue to go above and beyond the minimum FLSA requirements, offering better wage and hour laws to workers compared to the federal law. California provides daily overtime pay after 8 hours per day, as well as double time, also known as “golden time”, for hours worked over twelve per day and for all hours worked in excess of eight on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek. California overtime laws require overtime pay to be paid to non-exempt employees under the following circumstances:
- Any hours worked over 8 per day at 1 ½ times regular pay rate
- Any hours worked over 40 per week at 1 ½ times regular pay rate
- First 8 hours on the 7th consecutive day worked at 1 ½ times regular pay rate
- Any work in excess of 12 hours per day at 2 times regular rate
- Any work in excess of 8 hours on the 7th consecutive day at 2 times regular rate
The last time Congress raised the federal minimum wage was in 2007, when President George W. Bush reluctantly signed the bill passed by the Democratic Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour. It has remained at $7.25 since 2009, while California’s state laws have set the minimum wage to $8.00 per hour. The higher minimum wage has made California a more favorable state to work in after taking into account the overtime laws specific to California.