History of Labor Laws in the United States
Most federal labor laws in the United States date from the 1930s, when Congress passed the Norris-LaGuardia Act (1932), the National Labor Relations Act (1935), and the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938). Earlier federal efforts, like a 1916 child labor law, were struck down. Later in the history of labor laws, Congress added safety, benefits, leave, and anti-discrimination rules.
The history of labor laws is a story of workers’ rights arriving one law at a time. Each protection you have at work today traces to a specific statute and the agency that enforces it.
Before 1932: When Unions Had Little Legal Protection
Early courts often treated a union as a criminal conspiracy. In 1842, Massachusetts’s highest court ruled in Commonwealth v. Hunt that organizing alone wasn’t a crime, but courts kept siding with employers. In 1908, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Loewe v. Lawlor (the Danbury Hatters case) that a union boycott could violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Child labor drew one of Congress’s earliest efforts. The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 barred interstate sale of goods from mines that employed children under 16 and from factories that employed children under 14. The Supreme Court struck it down in 1918 in Hammer v. Dagenhart. Many states already had their own child labor laws, and Congress kept trying, including a child labor amendment that the states never ratified. Lasting federal child labor protections came with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
The New Deal Labor Laws (1932 to 1938)
Norris-LaGuardia Act (1932)
The Norris-LaGuardia Act limited federal court injunctions against strikes and made “yellow-dog” contracts, which barred a worker from joining a union, unenforceable in federal court.
National Labor Relations Act (1935)
President Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act, also called the Wagner Act, on July 5, 1935. Its Section 7 gave most covered private-sector employees the right to form and join unions and to bargain collectively. It excludes agricultural laborers, domestic workers, independent contractors, and supervisors, among others. The Act created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to run union elections and decide unfair labor practice charges.
Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was signed on June 25, 1938, and took effect that October. It set the first federal minimum wage, 25 cents an hour, required time-and-a-half overtime pay, and banned “oppressive child labor.” The Supreme Court upheld it in 1941 in United States v. Darby. The Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division enforces it.
After World War II: Rebalancing Union Power
After the war, public support for unions declined. Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 over President Truman’s veto. It amended the NLRA to add unfair labor practices by unions, ban the closed shop, restrict certain secondary boycotts and other secondary pressure tactics, and require unions to bargain in good faith, according to the NLRB.
The Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959 turned to how unions treat their own members. It requires financial reporting and sets standards for union officer elections, and the Department of Labor administers it.
The Major Federal Labor Laws by Topic
Most later laws protect individual workers, union members or not. DOL also enforces wage rules under the Immigration and Nationality Act for employers who hire workers on certain temporary visas, such as H-2A farmworkers.
Workplace Safety and Injured Workers
- Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (1916): workers’ compensation for federal employees injured on the job.
- Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (1927): compensation and medical care for certain injured maritime workers.
- Black Lung Benefits Act (1972): benefits for coal miners disabled by black lung disease.
- Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970): requires employers to keep workplaces free of recognized serious hazards, enforced by OSHA.
- Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (2000): benefits for Department of Energy workers made ill by radiation, beryllium, or silica.
DOL’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs runs the federal programs here. States run most other workers’ compensation.
Benefits and Leave
- Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA, 1974): sets minimum standards for private-sector pension and health plans (DOL).
- Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA, 1985): group health plans at employers that had 20 or more employees in the previous calendar year, and state and local government plans, must offer temporary continuation coverage after events like job loss. You can usually be charged up to 102% of the plan’s cost, or up to 150% during a disability extension (DOL).
- Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA, 1993): up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave a year for a new child or a serious health condition (yours or a close family member’s) (DOL Fact Sheet #28).
FMLA doesn’t cover every worker. Most private-sector employees qualify only if they’ve worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months and at least 1,250 hours in the past year, at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles. Public agencies and schools are covered under different rules, and airline flight crews have their own hours test.
Equal Treatment at Work
- Equal Pay Act (1963): equal pay for men and women doing substantially equal work.
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964): bans job discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967): protects workers 40 and older.
- Americans with Disabilities Act (1990): protects qualified workers with disabilities.
The EEOC enforces all four today. The Department of Labor originally enforced the Equal Pay Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and both moved to the EEOC under a 1978 reorganization plan.
Where Labor Law Stands as of November 2026
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since July 24, 2009, according to the Department of Labor. Where a state sets a higher rate, you get the higher one.
In 2025, 10.0% of wage and salary workers belonged to a union, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Full-time union members earned a median $1,404 a week, against $1,174 for nonunion workers, though BLS notes this doesn’t control for occupation, industry, or region.
The NLRB lost its quorum in 2025 and regained it on January 7, 2026. A court vacated the Department of Labor’s 2024 overtime rule that November, and in February 2026 the Department proposed a new independent contractor rule. Check the Federal Register for its status before you rely on it.
Labor and Employment Law as a Practice Area
Labor and employment law is one of many legal career paths. Lawyers in it represent unions or employers, take wage and leave claims as employment lawyers or discrimination claims as civil rights attorneys, or work for agencies such as the NLRB. There’s no separate labor-law license: you need a law degree and bar admission, and the rules for both vary by jurisdiction. Any undergraduate major works, including pre-law programs, and a J.D. from an ABA-approved law school is the standard route, and most states require one, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some jurisdictions accept graduates of non-ABA law schools or offer other paths to admission, so confirm the rules with your state’s bar admission office.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did labor laws start in the United States?
Most federal labor laws date from the 1930s, starting with the Norris-LaGuardia Act in 1932. Some states passed their own labor laws earlier.
When did workers get the right to form a union?
Most covered private-sector workers got that right in 1935, under the National Labor Relations Act. It excludes some private-sector workers, such as agricultural laborers and supervisors, and other federal and state laws set government employees’ rights.
Does COBRA mean my old employer pays for my health insurance?
No. COBRA requires plans at employers that had 20 or more employees in the previous calendar year, and state and local government plans, to offer continuation coverage. You can usually be charged up to 102% of the plan’s cost, or up to 150% during a disability extension.
- The 1930s were the turning point: the Norris-LaGuardia Act, the NLRA, and the FLSA still anchor federal labor law.
- Union law was rebalanced twice: Taft-Hartley (1947) limited unions, and Landrum-Griffin (1959) protected union members.
- Individual rights came later: safety, benefits, leave, and anti-discrimination laws arrived mostly between 1963 and 1993.
- Rules keep moving: since 2024, agency rules and court rulings have driven most changes, so check the enforcing agency first.
Labor and employment law shifts with each new rule and ruling, so employers, unions, and workers rely on trained lawyers and paralegals to track it. If you want to work in the field, compare programs by format and cost and, for a J.D., by ABA approval, which can affect eligibility for bar admission in different jurisdictions.
