Wage and hour laws are enforced by the wage and hour division which is entrusted on ensuring that the nation’s labor laws are well enacted. These labor laws consist of the overtime wages, minimum wages for workers, provisions of child labor and the provisions concerning hours that workers are supposed to work in a week. United States came up with Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure that all united state’s workers complied with hour and minimum wage standards. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted in 1938 as a measure for the standards for the overtime pay and the minimum wage which affects the workers in local, state and federal authorities and even in private sectors. The Act advocates for employees to be given the minimum wage and also for employers to be paying their employees for any overtime over their basic pay. The minimum wage according to the federal laws for workers who are not exempted changed were enacted as follows; $5.85, $6.55 and $7.25 per hour in the following years 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively. Various municipalities and states in United States also have their minimum laws concerning wages which in some cases are much higher than those set by the federal. In 2004, china enacted its first law on minimum wage. Through its ministry of human resource and social security, the regulations on Enterprises minimum wage were enacted and entrusted with the mandate of ensuring fair wages for the workers. Different from the minimum wage system in United States, in china the minimum wage rates are categorized into two; one hourly minimum wage for those workers working on a part time basis and monthly minimum wage for those employees who work on a full time basis. Another difference in wage and hour administration between United States and china is that minimum wage rates are set in different provinces and municipalities while in United States, minimum wages are set in states separates from the one set by the federal.
The laws relating to wage and hour administration between United States and china differs due to various reasons. First United States is doing well economically compared to china; therefore, the per capita income of United States is much higher compared to that of china. Therefore, employers in United States would be able to pay their workers high minimum wages compared to employers in china. This is because when a country is imposing wage and hour laws, it must consider the per capita income of the country and the ability of workers, in paying those minimum wages to their employees. Those countries, which are performing well economically, will set high minimum wage rates while those which are not performing well; will set low minimum wage rates per hour. Secondly, the form of the government governing a certain country will affect the laws to be imposed relating to wage and hour. Since United States have a different form of government compared to china, on how power is distributed along the government structure, and how laws are made and imposed affects the laws, therefore, the laws relating to wage and hours between United States and china are different.
The government in United States has imposed many laws aimed at safeguarding the rights of women including increasing their employment chances. These efforts have led to women contributing in the growth of the country as they represent a high percentage of the country’s labor force. Women are employed in masses in the United States as their rights are well safeguarded and even empowered through the provision of good education. These efforts have led unemployment rates among women in the United States to fall gradually over the years. The number of women working on a part time basis is twice that of men. However despite the huge contributed, the women making towards the labor force in the United States women earn less in terms of salaries compared to men. Due to this reason in a case where a man is the head of the family such a family will have a higher income compared to a family headed by a woman.
In china women, rights are not well protected thus the rate of unemployment among women is exceedingly high. For this reason men forms two-third of the labor force in china which unfair to women. Girls are not given a good education by their parents, and the rate of school dropouts among girls is extremely high. Women are discriminated as there are no good laws imposed by the government, to protect their rights. This discrimination against women in the labor market in china has made it for women in china to secure formal jobs even if they have degrees.
United States is described as a developed country due to its well performing economy as well as their high technological advancement and high living standards. United States has high gross domestic product, high level of industrialization, high per capita income and good infrastructure. In most cases, rate of unemployment are low in developed countries compared to developing countries. On the other hand, china is a developing country with low living standards, low industrialization and low technological advancements. The employment rate is also low due to the poor economy performance, poor gross domestic product and per capita income. Due to these differences between United States and china the labor laws relating to wage and hours administration also differs.
As employers are becoming aware of their rights, the number of lawsuits has increased as a result of their rights being violated by their employers. In United States, the number of lawsuits has risen drastically over the year. This has lead to employment practices liability (EPL) insurance which insures companies against costs related to such lawsuits. An example of a lawsuit in United States is one involving Yolanda Frazier, a former Wells Fargo employee who worked as a loan processor. The plaintiff filed the suit accusing Wells Fargo of forcing her together with her co-workers, to work overtime without any compensation for the overtime, which was a violation of their rights.
On the other hand, in china a similar lawsuit was filed against Wal-Mart stores accused of using Chinese factories that violated workers rights by overworking them and denying them overtime payment. The factories used by Wal-Mart included Huasheng crafts factory and Lungcheong factory forced their workers to work overtime under poor, working conditions without any payment for overtime.
The two cases are similar as they involve workers violation in their workplaces. For example, in Wells Fargo case, workers had to work more than 40hours per week without being compensated for the overtime, where supervisors would manipulate the timesheets as a way of eliminating the excess hours, which is against the labor laws. However the two cases differ in the way the two suits are handled by the law authorities of these two countries. This is because of the difference in the systems used in the law courts of the two countries. Also, the fact that United States and china have two diverse constitutions also makes the suits to be decided differently although they are similar in nature as the two countries have different labor laws.
References
Guerin, L., & DelPo, A. (2011). Create your own employee handbook: a legal & practical guide for employers (5th ed.). Berkeley, Calif.: Nolo.
Steingold, F., & DelPo, A. (2005). The employer's legal handbook (9th ed.). Berkeley, CA: Nolo.
