The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has set requirements for the protection of the rights of employees so that their rights are not violated. The FLSA have set certain target or age and salary requirements for the employees. According to them, the minimum age of a person for employment is16 years. At this age, the FLSA allows a person to work for unlimited hours. The FLSA does not allow people under 18 in hazardous occupations. If school going individuals of 14 and 15 years want to work, they can work but with a valid work permit and certain limitations. It is very much emphasized because many companies take advantage of the law and violate it according to their needs. For example, they hire children and make them work for more hours in factories and other areas without considering the limitations of labor and also without concerning their age. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the employees cannot be exempted from overtime pay. The employees should be paid for overtime in their job if their work exceeds 40 hours in a week. The employees working are classified as non-exempt and exempt on the basis of their work and pay. The FLSA strictly emphasized on paying labors for overtime as it is their right so they should be paid for their hard work.
Some states do not agree with the FLSA and have set their criteria, so an individual is also supposed to follow and agree to the laws made compulsory by their state government in order to avoid any legal complication in future. The state and federal laws have special requirements that protect the right of young children who are under 18 and working. These laws set by the state often affects salary, working hours of an employee, and the type of job. The main focus of the state is to prevent child labor and to protect the rights of young individuals who just start working. Also, to protect the rights of the children who engage in child labor due to some personal and financial issues. In some states, child labor is considered as a crime and people involved in this crime go through serious legal investigations and are often charged and punished for this.
Minimum age for employment should be 18 years as young individuals are considered responsible for their act after this age. However, they should work under certain conditions and laws to avoid any complication. The age of 21 for hazardous jobs does not seem right because for hazardous jobs it is very young age. Many studies and examples are present which prove that hazardous jobs require experience and maturity. Family’s decision of sending their child to work counts a lot. Schady & Edmonds (2012) conducted a study in Ecuador in which poor women and children were included randomly for transferring cash. Winning the amount through the lottery means that the child refuses to work, which is less than 20% of the earnings of the child labor. The family who won the lottery delayed their child’s employment and protected the child’s school life. The expenditures of the school increases with the lottery but the total needs of the household were rejected because of fixed child labor salary . It is difficult for the students to work during the school hours because of strictness on working hours.
Child labor is very common in the American society. It is estimated that around one million children are working under unjust and unlawful conditions. The main reason behind child labor is poverty. Young individuals being engaged in hazardous jobs are one of the major challenges faced by our society. The serious issues of child labor are present in the region of the United States-Mexico border. Charles Dickens in Hard Times researched the hazardous jobs and child labor in the 18th and 19th centuries and Frances Trollope in The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy undertook another research. They presented certain proofs including drawings and pictures of children beaten up in factories and mills, working in dangerous coalmines, and carrying heavy rocks on their backs that showed the worst side of the child labor abuse. Due to this in 1821, the first law against the child labor was passed in the United Kingdom.
Since June 30, 2002, the FLSA presented several laws in the federal district courts and raised its margin by 75%. Some present and ex-employees filed cases against the violation of their rights that included not paying their deserved pay for overtime by their employers. The best way to avoid any such allegations that are very costly and time-consuming is to review the rights of employees carefully and ensure that they are given complete rights.
It could be highlighted that many researches and studies have been conducted on the topic of salary satisfaction in public and private sectors. Dreher (1981) also contributed a lot to this subject and proposed that without the addition of employees’ opinions, low level of salary satisfaction among the employees can be noted. The need of salary satisfaction often overcomes the job satisfaction. The study by Dreher (1981) hypothesized that there is a major difference between private and public sectors’ level of salary satisfaction. The study included data from 250 employees working in both sectors. The result showed that the level of salary satisfaction is higher in the public sector than the private organizations. The study wanted to raise the level of salary paid to the employees and also highlighted the main issues faced by the employees.
References
Dreher, G. F. (1981). Predicting the salary satisfaction of exempt employees. Personnel Psychology, 34(3), 579-589.
Ko, H.-Y., & Kleiner, B. H. (2005). Analysing jobs to determine exempt or non-exempt status. Equal Opportunities International, 93-100.
Pollack, S. H., Belville, R., & Godbold, J. H. (1995). Child labor. Pediatric annals, 24(12), 657-662.
Schady, N., & Edmonds, E. V. (2012). Poverty alleviation and. American economic journal, 4(4), 100–124.
