History Of Employment Laws

 

By Albert L. Kelley

 

There were four major employment laws passed in the 1930s – the Davis-Bacon Act (setting minimum wages for laborers and mechanics working under government contracts), the Norris-LaGuardia Act (allowing for the association of workers for collective bargaining purposes), the National Labor Relations Act (creating unionization rights of employees and setting procedures for collective bargaining), and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (limiting the number of hours an employee could work before the employer MUST pay time and a half for overtime). These all deal with labor relations, essentially. If you recall your history, the ‘30s was a period of strife in the labor field. There were a lot of labor disputes, strikes and unionization. These laws were passed to support unionization and set controls for collective bargaining.

 

 

The next major wave of employment laws came in the 1960s. This was a period of civil unrest, and, as you might imagine, the laws passed during this period affect discriminatory behavior and civil rights. Primary in this area was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (preventing discrimination in the areas of race, color; religion, sex and national origin), the Equal Pay Act of 1964 (prohibiting sex-based discrimination in wages), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (protecting workers over 40 from discrimination based on their age).

 

 

The Nixon-Ford era of the 1970s brought us several major laws involving primarily safety, education and retirement, along with a Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act. The Carter years of the late 1970’s brought the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

 

 

During the Regan years, of course, the major issue was the budget and thus we see the major law was COBRA – the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. Finally, the first Bush years, the ‘80s, the me generation brought laws that impacted the worker as an individual, as opposed to the laws of the ‘30s which protected workers as a group.

 

 

In the 1990’s, the issues involved individual rights and financial freedom. An example is the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which requires employers to report certain information to the government with respect to newly-hired employees (so-called “New Hire Reporting.”) The primary intent of the new hire reporting law is to help track down “deadbeat daddies” (and mommies) who skip out on their child support obligations.

 

 

My purpose here is showing that employment law reflects the issues of the day. This is not just true about laws passed, but also about their interpretation. Understanding when laws were passed might help you understand why they were passed and what their true purpose is.

 

 

There are numerous laws that apply to the area of equal employment. We have the civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and more. Entire courses are taught on some of these, but we are going to give them only a cursory overview. We will start next week with the most famous, The Civil Rights Act of 1964.

 

 

Al Kelley is a Florida business law attorney located in Key West and previously taught business law, personnel law and labor law at St. Leo University. He is also the author of “Basics of Business Law” and “Basics of Florida’s Small Claims Court” (Absolutely Amazing e-Books). This article is being offered as a public service and is not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have any questions about legal issues, you should confer with a licensed Florida attorney.

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