The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): An Overview - MSPB Watch

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): An OverviewThe 1996 Small Business Job Protection ActIn 1996, Congress exempted certain computer professionals from minimum wage and overtimeregulations. 77 The 1996 amendments also brought within the FLSA’s minimum wage coverage allgovernment employees employed as of April 1, 1996.The 2007 Increases in the Basic Minimum WageOn May 25, 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law a supplemental appropriations billtitled the “U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq AccountabilityAppropriations Act, 2007” (P.L. 110-28). Title VIII of the act, “Fair Minimum Wage and TaxRelief,” increased the basic federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour effective July2007, from $5.85 to $6.55 an hour effective July 2008, and from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour effectiveJuly 2009.The Equal Pay ActThe Equal Pay Act (EPA), although commonly referred to on its own, was an amendment to theFLSA. The EPA was enacted in 1963 and prohibits gender-based pay discrimination. 78Break Time for Nursing MothersThe 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) amended the FLSA to requirecovered employers to provide reasonable break time to nonexempt employees to express breastmilk for a nursing child.77 29 U.S.C. §213(a)(17).78 29 U.S.C. §§206-209.Congressional Research Service 20