At the beginning of the progressive era, there were millions of women in America, starting at the age of ten, that worked in factories. The women that worked in the factories endured working for hours on end in poor factory conditions. Not only were the jobs that the women faced boring and repetitive, but the long strenuous hours of doing the same thing over and over became excruciating. The long hours in the poor working conditions resulted in bad things. Such as the women working in mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts that suffered from diseases like Tuberculosis and pneumonia. In some cases there was even death. By the year of 1911, one third of the spinners in Lawrence had died after working not even ten years. On top of this, the women factory workers were paid less than the men. Because the women found this unfair, they built into the movement, a movement made for change. The movement to be called the Progressive Era.During progressive era, there were cases and movements of people wanting to improve the working conditions. One condition that they hoped to improve was the amount of working hours in the work week. There were two main cases, lead by the supreme court, which were made to improve the working conditions. These cases were Muller v. Oregon and Bunting v. Oregon.
Muller v. Oregon was held in 1908. This case was very important in the United States Supreme Court history for it dealt with both sex discrimination and labor laws. The case of Muller v. Oregon was held against the Oregon State Restrictions of women's working hours and was justified as a state interest of protecting women's health.This case started when Curt Muller, the owner of Lace House Laundry, was convicted guilty of having one of his female employees work more than ten hours in a single working day. Because of this, Muller was fines $10. Muller was taken to the Oregon Supreme Court in order of his convicting of an Oregon Labor Law. He was later appealed to the United States Supreme Court.On January 15, 1908, this case was taken to the supreme court. The statue of Oregon, 1903, provided that there should be no woman working over ten hours in one day. The court case was ended on February 24, 1908.
Bunting v. Oregon was a court case which was held in 1917. This case ended with the acceptance of a ten hours work day. I think that it is a very good thing that they have made laws like this one so that people are now able to work overtime, especially when the economy is like it is now.Today the working hours are mainly varied by states. Some states do not require a maximum amount of working hours, while some may limit the amount of time it allows people to work. It seems that the vast majority of states don't, but the ones that do most commonly limit the work to around 8 hours per week for adults. Iowa does not have a limit on the amount of time a person is able to work in a week, day, year, ect.Alaska- 8 hours per day, 40 hours per weekArizona- (Minors) 8 hours per day 40 hours per weekColorado- 8 hours per day with exceptionsConnecticut- 9 hours per day, 48 hours per week for manufacturing and mechanical establishmentsFlorida- 10 hours per dayIllinois- 8 hours per dayKansas- 258 hours in 28-day periodKentucky- 40 hours per weekMaine- 40 hours per weekMaryland- 40 hours per weekMassachusetts- 40 hours per weekMichigan- 8 hours per day, 80 hours per 14 daysMissouri- 8 hours per day but can be changed with employee consentMontana- 8 hours per day with exceptionsNew Mexico- 16 hours per day, 10 hours per day for males and 8 hours per day for women working in hotels or eating establishmentsOhio- 8 hours per dayOregon- 10 hours per day in manufacturing establishment, 8 hours in millsSouth Dakota- 10 hours per day unless agreement to the contraryWisconsin- Department of Workforce Development can set hoursWyoming- 40 hours per week for state employees and public works projects
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