Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is the federal law that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, record keeping, and child labor standards.[i] This law affects full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in federal, state and local governments.
The provisions of the FLSA apply to all covered employees regardless of their citizenship or work eligibility. Courts have determined that documented and undocumented immigrants are entitled to the protections of the FLSA.[ii]
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[i] 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq.
[ii] See Patel v. Quality Inn South, 846 F.2d 700, 704-05 (11th Cir. 1988) (undocumented aliens are “employees” covered by the FLSA); cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1011 (1989); In re Reyes, 814 F.2d 168, 170 (5th Cir. 1987), cert. denied, 487 U.S. 1235 (1988) (the protections of the FLSA are applicable to citizens and aliens alike and whether the alien is documented or undocumented is irrelevant); see also Lopez v. Rodriguez, 668 F.2d 1376, 1378 (D.C. Cir. 1981) (resident alien from Bolivia successfully brought action under FLSA); Contreras v. Corinthian Vigor Insurance Brokerage, Inc., 103 F.Supp2d. 1180, 1184-86 (N.D. Cal. 2000) (undocumented workers, like documented workers, are entitled to file complaints against employers and enjoy the same protections against retaliation when they assert their rights under the FLSA);