By HR Brew Staff
less than 3 min read
Definition:
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a law establishing employment protections for most part- and full-time US workers. Protections include those pertaining to minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment.
When was the FLSA enacted?
The FLSA was signed into law in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of his New Deal to promote economic recovery in the wake of the Great Depression. It established the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to administer and enforce the law.
Who must comply with the FLSA?
All US employers must comply with the FLSA. Violations are reported to the WHD and may result in monetary or criminal penalties.
Who is protected by the FLSA?
Part- and full-time US employees who work at least 40 hours a week in a single job. Some employees are exempt from specific standards. Executive, administrative, and professional employees, for example, are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions, while children employed by a parent in a non-hazardous occupation are exempt from the child labor standards.
Can we expect reforms to the FLSA?
The DOL has issued several changes to the FLSA since it was enacted. In February 2026, for example, the WHD proposed a rule that would make it easier for employers to classify workers as independent contractors—who, notably, are exempt from FLSA protections—by essentially restoring a 2021 framework for determining employment status. And in May 2026, the agency announced a technical amendment restoring a 2019 regulation requiring, among other things, a $684 minimum weekly salary for the majority of exempt executive, administrative, and professional employees.
Some believe more reform is needed. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), for one, has advocated for the law’s modernization, its chief of staff, Emily Dickens, told HR Brew in 2024 that it hoped to “figure out how we can better address the workplace of today as opposed to the workplace that existed when that legislation came into being.”
SHRM testified before the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections to that effect in March 2025.
Can you put FLSA into context?
“SHRM advocated against the Department of Labor’s independent contractor rule as an amendment to the FLSA, which applies a stricter test for employers to determine when a worker should be classified in this category,” HR Brew reported in 2024.
