Dmort Business Solution

Many Americans work their first  job in a retail setting. Most retail positions do not require many hard skills, so the arrangement works out well for both parties: Younger workers can gain job experience and start learning to manage an income, while retail businesses can pay an inexperienced person less than a more experienced adult for roughly the same job output.

What Governs Retail Labor Laws
1. The provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 apply to any company that does more than $500,000 worth of business during the fiscal year. FLSA provisions include standards for minimum wage, overtime and medical leave. The Department of Labor enforces the FLSA through a unit of the Employment Standards Administration called the Wage and Hour Division.

Age Rules
2. Federal law declares that nobody under the age of 14 may work any job in a retail establishment, unless that establishment is owned by the worker’s parents. States may raise the minimum age requirement, but they may not lower it. Some states require a work permit for anyone under the age of 16, but federal law does not. The FLSA has no restrictions past the age of 16.

Wages
3. The minimum wage for retail employees is the same rate as every other occupation. Some states may raise their minimum wage above the federal rate, but not below it. There are two exceptions to this minimum wage, student learners and those under 16.

A retail business that applies to the Department of Labor for a student learner exemption may pay no less than 85 percent of the prevailing minimum wage. Employees under 16 may be paid no less than 75 percent of the prevailing minimum wage for the first 90 days of employment.

Hours and Overtime
4. The FLSA does not restrict hours for retail employees once they turn 16. Those under 16 in the retail business may not work more than 18 hours during school weeks, no more than 40 during non-school weeks, no more than three hours on any school day, and no more than eight hours on weekends and holidays.

FLSA overtime provisions apply to all non-exempt retail employees. All hours over 40 during the work week are to be paid at least time-and-a-half.

Penalties
5. If an employer violates any provision of the FLSA, retail employees may register a complaint with the Department of Labor. The first violation of minimum wage or overtime law carries a fine of up to $10,000 and any back wages due to the employee. Further violations and convictions can lead to jail time for the employer.

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