In 1937, the United States was recovering from the Great Depression. As part of the recovery effort, President Franklin D. Roosevelt endorsed a series of economic programs, known as the New Deal, to help stimulate and rebuild the U.S. economy. The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was the major statute enacted to help achieve these goals. Although the NIRA was eventually found unconstitutional, many of its provisions appeared in later New Deal statutes, including in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). The FLSA provides for a federal minimum wage, overtime pay, and child labor protections. Congress endorsed the act because its provisions were meant to both protect workers and stimulate the economy. The FLSA also created the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) within the Department of Labor (DOL) to administer and enforce the act. At the time of the act's passage, Congress found that a few employers who paid substandard wages caused a decrease in wages within their respective industries, because other employers sought to compete in the marketplace with lower priced goods. Congress also found that these decreased wages caused one-third of the U.S. population to be "ill-nourished, ill-clad, and ill-housed." To counter these conditions, in 1938 Congress established a minimum wage of $0.25 an hour, gradually increasing to $0.40 an hour in 1945. Congress has since legislated several increases in the minimum wage. It now stands at $7.25 an hour. The FLSA also mandates a pay rate of one-and-one-half times an employee's hourly wage for every hour the employee works beyond a standard work week. When enacted, the FLSA required employers to pay overtime for hours worked in excess of 44 hours in a week. The 44-hour threshold was lowered to 40 hours in 1940. The purpose of the overtime provision is to reduce unemployment by encouraging employers to hire more workers, rather than requiring current employees to work more than 40 hours per week and pay the premium overtime rate. Finally, under the FLSA Congress set certain conditions under which children could work. Not only was oppressive child labor considered immoral, as children often worked at the cost of their own health and education, but Congress also believed that the lower wages generally earned by children drove down the wages of adult workers. The FLSA extends minimum wage, overtime pay, and child labor protections to individuals "employed by an employer." Congress has also "exempted" certain employers and employees from all or parts of the FLSA. For example, exemptions were provided to executive, administrative, or professional (EAP) employees; individuals employed at retail stores that did not have interstate operations; and agricultural employees. Additionally, the child labor provisions did not apply to children employed in the motion picture or theater industries. The FLSA covers employees and enterprises engaged in interstate commerce. An enterprise is covered if it has annual sales or business done of at least $500,000. Regardless of the dollar volume of business, the act applies to hospitals; institutions primarily engaged in the care of the sick, aged, mentally ill, or disabled who reside on the premises; schools for children who are mentally or physically disabled or gifted; federal, state, and local governments; and preschools, elementary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education. Although enterprises that have less than $500,000 in annual sales or business done are not covered by the FLSA, employees of these enterprises may be covered if they are individually engaged in interstate commerce. These employees may travel to other states for work, make phone calls or send emails to persons in other states, or handle records that are involved in interstate transactions. The $500,000 enterprise threshold has not been raised since it was enacted in 1989. Employers are required to administer dual enterprise and individual tests to determine if individual employees are covered by the act. That is, although an enterprise may not be covered if it has less than $500,000 in annual sales or business done, employees of the enterprise may be covered if they are individually engaged in interstate commerce. The FLSA covers most, but not all, private and public sector employees. Persons who are not covered by the FLSA include individuals who are elected to state or local government offices and members of their staffs, policymaking appointees of elected officeholders of state or local governments, employees of legislative bodies of state or local governments, immediate family members of an employer engaged in agriculture, persons who volunteer their services to a state or local government (if the person is not employed by the government agency to perform the same services), and persons who volunteer their services to a private, nonprofit food bank and who receive groceries from the food bank. The FLSA exempts certain employers and employees from the minimum wage, overtime, or child labor standards of the act. For example, bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees are exempt from both the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the act if they meet both a salary test and a job duties test. Certain employees in computer-related occupations are also exempt from both the minimum wage and overtime if they meet an hourly wage or weekly salary test and a job duties test. Domestic service workers who provide companionship services in private homes are exempt from both the minimum wage and overtime if they are employed directly by an individual or family. Under Section 18 of the FLSA, if states enact minimum wage, overtime, or child labor laws that are more protective of employees than what is provided by the FLSA, the state law applies. The FLSA defines a state as "any State of the United States or the District of Columbia or any Territory or possession of the United States." Because states may enact laws that are more protective of employees than what is provided by the FLSA, there are multiple minimum wage, overtime, and child labor standards nationwide. Under Section 6 of the FLSA, employers must pay covered, nonexempt employees at least $7.25 an hour. However, the FLSA includes several subminimum wage rates. Employers may pay lower minimum wage rates to tipped employees; workers with disabilities; new hires under the age of 20; full-time students who work in retail or service establishments, agriculture, or institutions of higher education; and high school students who are at least 16 years of age and enrolled in a vocational education program. The basic minimum wage is raised periodically by Congress. The current basic minimum wage of $7.25 went into effect on July 24, 2009. As of January 1, 2014, 21 states and the District of Columbia have minimum wage rates that are higher than the federal minimum wage. Most employees are paid more than the basic minimum wage. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2012 95.3% of employees who were paid by the hour were paid an hourly wage that was greater than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Tipped employees may be paid less than the basic minimum wage, but their cash wage plus tips must equal at least the basic minimum wage. Under Section 3(m) of the FLSA, a "tipped employee" is a worker who "customarily and regularly" receives more than $30 a month in tips. Employers must allow tipped employees to keep all tips. However, the FLSA allows tips to be pooled and shared among tipped employees. Under the FLSA, an employer may pay a tipped worker a minimum cash wage of $2.13 if the employee receives at least $5.12 an hour in tips (for a total hourly wage of $7.25). Employers may claim up to $5.12 in tips as a tip credit. However, if a tipped employee receives less than $5.12 an hour in tips, the employer must make up the difference with a higher cash wage. For example, if a tipped employee receives $3.00 an hour in tips, the employer must pay the employee a cash wage of at least $4.25 an hour. In states with a minimum wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage, the tip credit may be more than $5.12. On the other hand, as of January 1, 2012, seven states and Guam do not allow employers to claim a tip credit (i.e., employers must pay all tipped employees a cash wage that is at least the higher of the federal or state minimum wage). In 24 states and the District of Columbia, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is greater than the federal minimum cash wage of $2.13. In 13 states and the Virgin Islands, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $2.13. In the remaining six states, five do not have state minimum wage laws and one exempts tipped employees from state law. Under Section 14(c) of the FLSA, employers may pay special minimum wages (SMWs) to workers with disabilities. The purpose of the SMWs is to provide persons with disabilities the opportunity to work. A disability may be physical or mental. It may be related to age or an injury. Disabilities include blindness, mental illness or retardation, alcoholism, and drug addiction. Employers must receive certificates from the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of DOL that authorize the employers to pay SMWs. WHD issues certificates to four types of employers: work centers, hospital or residential care facilities, businesses, and School Work Exploration Programs (SWEP). Work centers (also called "community rehabilitation programs" and "sheltered workshops") provide employment, training, and rehabilitation services. Hospital or residential care facilities employ "patient workers," who are employed persons who also receive treatment or care. A business establishment that employs workers with disabilities at SMWs must receive a certificate from WHD. Under SWEP, schools place students with disabilities at work sites in the community. In order to pay a disabled worker less than the basic minimum wage, the employee's disabilities must impair his or her productive capacity in the job being performed.