Who Decided Overtime Should Pay Time-and-a-Half?

Before overtime pay, how long could employers make American workers stay on the job? For much of American labor history, working extra hours did not guarantee extra money. Long shifts and six-day workweeks were common across factories, mines, mills, and other workplaces, leaving many employees with little protection against exhausting schedules. In this episode of Forgotten Ledger, we explore the history of overtime pay in the United States. Discover how workers fought to shorten the workweek, why 40 hours became the federal overtime threshold, and how the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established time-and-a-half pay for many covered workers. Why did lawmakers require employers to pay more for additional hours? Was overtime designed to reward workers, discourage excessively long schedules, or encourage businesses to hire more people? And why are some American employees still excluded from overtime protections? Subscribe to Forgotten Ledger for more overlooked stories about American wages, labor laws, taxes, banking, insurance, and the financial systems hidden inside everyday life. #OvertimePay #LaborHistory #ForgottenLedger