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1840: "The first attempt legally to regulate
the working hours of men in the United States was the executive order of
President Van Buren in 1840, stipulating a ten-hour day in government
navy-yards." [Principles of labor legislation, by John R. Commons and
John B. Andrews. New York ; London : Harper and Brothers., 1920. Page 248]
1868: Congress provided that "eight hours
shall constitute a day's work for all laborers, workment, and mechanics who may
be employed by or on bahalf of the government of the United States." [United
States, Revised Statutes, 1878, Title 43, Sec. 3738. See United States
Commissioner of Labor, Second Special Report, 1896.]
1870's: In his autobiography Seventy years
of life and labor, Samuel Gompers wrote that It was early in the
seventies when we cigarmakers of New York City discovered the influence of
tenement production.
… First, as I have related, we tried to get
Federal restriction under the taxing power of Congress. Several congressmen,
including Abram S. Hewitt, thought Congress had power to place a prohibitive
tax on tenement-made goods. Our first years of agitation were concerned with
showing the harmful consequences of tenement manufacture. Industrial hygiene
was then a new field. We had to teach the public the relation between sanitary
work conditions, health of workers, and the spread of contagious diseases.
… Our campaign to educate the public as to the evils of
tenement-house work and our contests with the Health Department had interested
many humanitarian and public-spirited persons who recognized how the tenements
menaced public well-being. The State Board of Charities prepared statements and
reports on living conditions in tenements. These were given wide publicity
through the New York World. Charles F. Wingate, one of the first
sanitary engineers and the editor of the Plumber, was helpful and gave
splendid service in helping with the scientific arguments. Our campaign to
abolish tenement cigar manufacture was one of the most thorough I have ever
known conducted by any labor organization and was wonderfully fruitful in
setting in motion forces that found action in related fields. A tenement-house
reform meeting held in Cooper Union over which Mayor Cooper presided helped to
keep the public thinking.
… After years of educational work, in
1881, our union inaugurated an intensive effort to get a state law. We
persuaded a member of each house of the Legislature to act as sponsor for our
bill, and at the same time kept labor men in Albany, not only to watch the
legislative situation, but to advise the labor movement of developments so that
the legislators might constantly be made aware that their constituents were
interested in the tenement-house bill.
(See: pages 183 to 187, Seventy years of life and labor; an autobiography, by Samuel Gompers. New York, E.P. Dutton & company [c1925], 2008.)
May 12, 1884: The New York Legislature passed
"An act to improve the public health by prohibiting the manufacture of cigars
and preparation of tobacco in any form in tenement-houses in certain cases, and
regulating the use of tenement-houses in certain cases." The bill was signed by
Governor Grover Cleveland.
January 20, 1885: The New York Court of
Appeals issued a decisision in the Matter of Application of Jacobs, 98 N.Y.
98 (NY 1885), ruling that the Act to improve the public health by
prohibiting the manufacture of cigars and preparation of tobacco in any form in
tenement-houses in certain cases, and regulating the use of tenement-houses
was unconstitutional because it “makes it a crime for a cigarmaker
… to carry on a perfectly lawful trade in his own home. … and
that it was … unconstitutional on the ground that it arbitrarily
interferes with personal liberty and private property without due process of
law…
May 8, 1895: The New York Bakeshop Act of
1895 set some sanitation standards for bakeries and provided that they
could not employ their workers for more than 60 hours in any one week
February 28, 1898: In Holden v. Hardy, 69 U.S. 366, the
Supreme Court approved a Utah law regulating the hours of labor for men working
in mines.
April 17, 1905: Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45. The
Supreme Court ruled that The New York Bakeshop Act of 1895 was unconstitutional
because of the provisions limiting the number of hours an employee could work.
"Clean and wholesome bread does not depend upon whether the baker works but ten
hours per day or only sixty hours a week. The limitation of the hours of labor
does not come within the police power on that ground."
1906: Senator Albert J. Beveridge, Indiana,
introduced a bill banning the sale of products from any factory, shop, or
cannery that employed children under the age of 14, from any mine that employed
children under the age of 16, and from any facility that had children under the
age of 16 work at night or for more than 8 hours during the day.
1907: "Excessive hours having been recognized
as a factor in railroad accidents, both state and federal legislation was
passed to change the situation. In 1907, by a law applicable to workers on
interstate railroads, Congress set 16 as the maximum number of hours to be
worked in one day and provided for adequate rest periods. (34 Stat. 1415
(1907), 45 U. S. C. §61 (1935)) [Regulation of Wages and Hours Prior to
1938, by Frank T. De Vyver. Page 325]
February 24, 1908: Muller v. Oregon, 208 U.S. 412. The
Supreme Court ruled that legislation limiting the hours of work for women did
not violate the constitution, "even when like legislation is not necessary for
men and could not be sustained."
1912: A bill limiting the hours of work for
women and children in New York factories to 54 hours a week was passed through
the efforts of Frances Perkins, at that time a lobbyist for the National
Consumer's League.
1916: The Keating–Owen Child Labor Act of
1916, based on the 1906 child labor proposed bill by Senator Albert J.
Beveridge, banned the sale of products from any factory, shop, or cannery that
employed children under the age of 14, from any mine that employed children
under the age of 16, and from any facility that had children under the age of
16 work at night or for more than 8 hours during the day. The Keating-Owen Act
was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson.
1916: "In 1916, at the insistence of
President Wilson who sought to avert a strike, Congress provided for a basic
8-hour day for railroad trainmen with no reduction in wages. (39 Stat. 721
(1916), 45 U. S. C. §65 (1935). [Regulation of Wages and Hours Prior to 1938,
by Frank T. De Vyver, page 325]
April 9, 1917: Bunting v. Oregon, 243 U.S. 426. The
Supreme Court declared unconstitutional an Oregon law requiring payment of
"overtime at the rate of time and one-half of the regular wage" to employees of
mills, factories, and manaufacturing establishments.
June 3, 1918: Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S.
251. The Supreme Court declared the Keating-Owen Child Labor bill
unconstitutional. This decision was overruled by United States v. Darby Lumber
Co.
September 19, 1918: Congress approved the
District of Columbia minimum-wage law (40
Stat. 960) guaranteeing a minimum wage to women and children employed
in the District of Columbia.
December 1918: Child Labor Tax Law,
passed as part of the Revenue Act of 1919, imposed a federal excise tax of 10%
on annual net profits of those employers who used child labor in certain
businesses.
May 15, 1922: Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., 259
U.S. 20. The Supreme Court ruled the 1919 Child Labor Tax Law unconstitutional
as an improper attempt by Congress to penalize employers using child labor.
April 9, 1923: Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261
U.S. 525. The Supreme Court ruled that the 1918 District of Columbia Minimum
Wage Act, establishing a federal minimum wage for women and children employed
in the District of Columbia, was an unconstitutional infringement of liberty of
contract.
August 10, 1933: President Franklin D.
Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6246, requiring government contractors to
comply with codes of fair competition issued under the National Industrial
Recovery Act (NIRA). This became moot when the Supreme Court struck down the
NIRA in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935).
May 27, 1935: Schechter Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S.
495. The Supreme Court declared that the National Recovery Act was
unconstitutional.
June 1, 1936: Morehead v. New York ex rel.
Tipaldo, 298 U.S. 587. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality
of minimum wage legislation enacted by the State of Washington.
June 30, 1936: The Walsh-Healey Public
Contracts Act (PCA) (41 USC §§6501-6511) passed. It established minimum wage,
maximum hours, and safety and health standards for work on contracts in excess
of $15,000 for the manufacturing or furnishing of materials, supplies,
articles, or equipment to the U.S. government or the District of Columbia. All
provisions of the PCA are administered by the Wage and Hour Division except the
safety and health requirements, which are administered by the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
February 5, 1937: President Franklin
Roosevelt unveiled the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, which is
generally referred to as the "court-packing plan"
March 29, 1937: West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish
(1937), The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of minimum wage
legislation enacted by the State of Washington.
April 7, 1937: H. R. 6205, A Bill To enable the Department of Labor to formulate and promote
the furtherance of labor standards necessary to safeguard
the welfare of apprentices and to cooperate with the States
in the promotion of such standards.
May 24, 1937: The Fair Labor Standards Act of
1937 was introduced in Congress as S. 2475 in the Senate, and H.R. 7200 in the
House of Representatives.
June 25, 1938: The Fair Labor Standards Act
of 1938 (FLSA) was passed by Congress and signed by President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt
October 24, 1938: The Fair Labor Standards
Act went into effect.
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RESOURCES Analysis of the Labor Provisions of N. R. A.
Codes
, by Margaret H. Schoenfeld. Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 40, No. 3 (March
1935), pp. 574-603.
Regulation of Wages and Hours Prior to 1938
, Frank T. de Vyver, 6 Law and Contemporary Problems 323-332. (Summer 1939). Downloaded 2021-03-24 from https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi&article=1960&context=lcp.