The Fair Labor Standards Act provides minimum standards that may be
exceeded, but cannot be waived or reduced. Employers must comply, for
example, with any Federal, State or municipal laws, regulations or
ordinances establishing a higher minimum wage or lower maximum workweek
than those established under the Act. Similarly, employers, on their
own initiative or under a collective bargaining agreement with a labor
union, are not precluded by the Act from providing a wage higher than
the statutory minimum, a shorter workweek than the statutory maximum,
or a higher overtime premium (double time, for example) than provided
by the Act. While collective bargaining agreements cannot waive or
reduce the Act's protections, nothing in the Act or the regulations in
this part relieves employers from their contractual obligations under
collective bargaining agreements.
