Article Link: http://stage.exchangepress.com/article/applying-the-exemptions-to-the-fair-labor-standards-act-to-child-care-workers/5018839/
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the primary federal legislation establishing national wage and hour standards. The purpose of the Act is to protect the working class from overwork and underpay by providing non-waivable rights to a minimum wage and a premium pay rate at time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Ever since its enactment, however, the FLSA has exempted certain classes of ‘white collar’ workers from the pay requirements established by the Act. According to the most recent Amendments, the FLSA mandates that certain ‘executive, administrative, and professional’ employees are exempt from the requirements of the FLSA.In August 2004, the regulations governing the FLSA were revised in an attempt to, among other things, modernize and clarify the limits of the white-collar exceptions. Although many of the questions regarding interpretation of these revised regulations have been answered over the past five years, the issue of the applicability of the FLSA exemptions to child care workers continues to cause a considerable amount of confusion. As the law currently stands, there are two exempt categories in which a child care worker may fit. These exemptions are known ...