In June 1938 Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, also known as the Wages and Hours Law. This New Deal legislation was a major accomplishment for workers’ rights. It was the first permanent national law to legislate a minimum wage. It also established a maximum work week of 40 hours, forbade children under 16 from working, and restricted workers under 18 to nonhazardous positions. This law applied to businesses and workers involved in interstate commerce. Several occupations, such as farm laborers and domestic servants, were exempted from the law’s regulations. In 1941 the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Fair Labor Standards Act in the U.S. v. Darby Lumber Co. case.
