The Democrat majority on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor recently approved a massive rewrite of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal law that sets wage and hour requirements.
Among other things, the bill (H.R. 7701) would put the federal government in charge of enforcing private wage agreements, add burdensome new employer disclosure requirements, and amend the FLSA’s enforcement provisions to facilitate large class action lawsuits, increase monetary penalties, and limit employer defenses.
Notably, the bill was approved on a party-line vote by the Committee on May 18, 2022, only eight days after it was introduced and without the benefit of any public hearings. H.R. 7701 has no prospects of becoming law in this Congress – even if it is subsequently approved by the full House of Representatives, it would not have a chance in the closely divided U.S. Senate. Rather, the bill appears to be intended to make a political statement as the fall elections approach to reassure organized labor and other worker advocates as to where Democrats would take the FLSA if they had their way.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.