More than eighty million American workers are covered by the FLSA, which is enforced by The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

There are two ways in which an employee can be covered by the law: "enterprise coverage" and "individual coverage."

Enterprise Coverage

Employees who work for certain businesses, organizations or enterprises are covered by the FLSA. These enterprises, which must have at least two employees, are:

(1)     Those who do at least $500,000 a year in business

(2)     Hospitals, businesses providing medical or nursing care for residents, schools and preschools, and government agencies

Individual Coverage

Even when there is no enterprise coverage, employees are protected by the FLSA, it their work regularly involves in interstate commerce. The law covers the individual workers who are engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for interstate commerce."

Examples of employees who are involved in interstate commerce include those who: produce goods that will be sent out of state, regularly make telephone calls to persons located in other States, handle records of interstate transactions, travel to other States on their jobs, and do janitorial work in buildings where goods are produced for shipment outside the State.  Workers assembling components in a factory or a secretary typing a letter in an office that will be sent out of state will be covered by FLSA.

Also, the law normally covers domestic service workers, which included housekeepers, full-time babysitters, and cooks.