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The Walsh–Healey Public Contracts Act of 1936
41 USC §§6501-6511
is a
United States labor law United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the United States. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the "inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "org ...
, passed as part of the New Deal. It is a law on basic labor rights for U.S. government contracts. It was intended to improve labor standards.


Contents

The Walsh-Healey Act that applies to U.S. government contracts exceeding $15,000 for the manufacturing or furnishing of goods. Walsh-Healey establishes
overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
pay for hours worked by contractor employees in excess of 40 hours per week, and sets the minimum wage equal to the
prevailing wage In United States government contracting, a prevailing wage is defined as the hourly wage, usual benefits and overtime, paid to the majority of workers, laborers, and mechanics within a particular area. This is usually the union wage. Prevailing ...
as determined by the Secretary of Labor. The law prohibits the employment of youths less than 16 years of age and convicts (only those currently in prison), except under certain conditions. The Act sets standards for the use of convict labor, and job health and safety standards. The Walsh-Healey Act does not apply to commercial items.


Background

The Act was named for its Congressional sponsors, both Massachusetts Democrats, Senator David I. Walsh and Representative Arthur Healey. The Act was based on
Executive Order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...
6246, issued by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
on August 10, 1933, which required government contractors to comply with codes of fair competition issued under the
National Industrial Recovery Act The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) was a US labor law and consumer law passed by the 73rd US Congress to authorize the president to regulate industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery. It also ...
(NIRA). This became moot when the Supreme Court struck down the NIRA in ''
Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States ''A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States'', 295 U.S. 495 (1935), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated regulations of the poultry industry according to the nondelegation doctrine and as an invalid use ...
'' (1935).Kenneth R. Mayer, ''With the Stroke of a Pen: Executive Orders and Presidential Power'' (Princeton University Press, 2001), 47,239n69


See also

*
US labor law United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the United States. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the "inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "org ...
*
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (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 prohibits employment of minors in "opp ...
*
Davis–Bacon Act of 1931 The Davis–Bacon Act of 1931 is a United States federal law that establishes the requirement for paying the local prevailing wages on public works projects for laborers and mechanics. It applies to "contractors and subcontractors performing on ...
*FAR Subpart 22.6- Walsh–Healey Public Contracts Act -http://FARSITE.HILL.AF.MIL


Notes


External links


''Federal Labor Laws''
a list from ''
Congressional Digest The ''Congressional Digest,'' published by Congressional Digest Corporation, is a scholarly independent monthly publication with offices in Washington, DC. Congressional Digest was founded in 1921 by suffragette Alice Gram Robinson with the goal of ...
''.
''The Department in the New Deal and World War II''
at the US Department of Labor.
Text of the Act, 41 USC 35 et seq.
at the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute.
''Compliance Assistance - Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act''
US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division. {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act 1936 in law 74th United States Congress United States federal labor legislation Minimum wage law United States federal legislation articles without infoboxes 1936 in labor relations