Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), also Federal Wage and Hour Law, measure enacted by the United States Congress in 1938 to eliminate labor conditions injurious to the health and efficiency of workers, and unfair methods of competition based on these conditions. The act prohibited the introduction into interstate commerce of goods produced in violation of its provisions. It provided for a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour, required the payment of overtime at a rate of at least time and one half the regular rate of pay for hours in any work week in excess of 44, and prohibited "oppressive child labor." A subsequent increase of the minimum wage to 40 cents, and a decrease in the maximum non overtime hours to 40, was incorporated in the original law. Over the years the act has been amended periodically to raise the minimum wage, reduce the hours that could be worked without overtime pay, and extend the coverage to many more low-income workers. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 also amended the FLSA by prohibiting wage differentials based on sex.
