MEDIA ADVISORY: Unfinished Business: The Fair Labor Standards Act 80 Years Later

March 21, 2018

CONTACT: Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, or Katherine Shek, kshek@acslaw.org;

WHAT: The American Constitution Society and the National Consumers League will co-host a symposium at Georgetown University Law Center on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) on Wednesday, March 28, 2018. Leading scholars, advocates, and current and former federal and state officials will celebrate the history and success of the FLSA while also building a positive agenda for how we can improve our laws to meet the needs of our 21st century workforce. More details on the agenda here.

Imagine these scenarios: children working with toxic chemicals, Americans expected to work 80 hours a week, seven days a week, workers making as little as $1 a day. This is what America looked like in the 1930s until President Roosevelt passed the FLSA. Enacted at the height of the Great Depression, the FLSA fundamentally changed the American economy by outlawing most forms of child labor, instituting a 40-hour workweek, and guaranteeing a minimum wage. Today’s advocates argue that the FLSA needs to be updated to fight back against the current assault on working Americans. Our panels of experts will discuss what these reforms should look like.

WHO:

Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO, National Women’s Law Center, author of 50 Years and Counting: The Unfinished Business of Achieving Fair Pay

Mary Kay Henry, President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

Saru Jayaraman, Co-Founder and President, Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United

David Weil, Dean, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University

More on the speakers here 

WHEN:

Wednesday, March 28, 2018 at 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET

WHERE:

Georgetown University Law Center, 600 New Jersey Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001

Gewirz Student Center, 12th Floor

RSVP please email Katherine Shek at kshek@acslaw.org

###

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org, contact: Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org.

The American Constitution Society (ACS), founded in 2001 and one of the nation’s leading progressive legal organizations, is a rapidly growing network of lawyers, law students, scholars, judges, policymakers and other concerned individuals dedicated to making the law a force to improve lives of all people. For more information about the organization or to locate one of the more than 200 lawyer and law student chapters in 48 states, please visit www.acslaw.org.