<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article may be too technical for most readers to understand . Please help improve it to make it understandable to non-experts, without removing the technical details . (November 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article may be too technical for most readers to understand . Please help improve it to make it understandable to non-experts, without removing the technical details . (November 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 29 U.S.C. § 203 (abbreviated as FLSA) is a United States labor law that creates the right to a minimum wage, and "time - and - a-half" overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week . It also prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor". It applies to employees engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage . </P> <P> The Fair Labor Standards Act applies to "employees who are engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or who are employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce" unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage . Generally, an employer with at least $500,000 of business or gross sales in a year satisfies the commerce requirements of the FLSA, and therefore that employer's workers are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act's protections if no other exemption applies . Several exemptions exist that relieve an employer from having to meet the statutory minimum wage, overtime, and record - keeping requirements . The largest exceptions apply to the so - called "white collar" exemptions that are applicable to professional, administrative and executive employees . Exemptions are narrowly construed, as an employer must prove that the employees fit "plainly and unmistakably" within the exemption's terms . </P>

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