Flexibility for Workers Education Act
Flexibility for Workers Education Act This bill modifies the definition of hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act to exclude certain voluntary training that occurs outside an employee's regular working hours. Such training does not count as hours worked even if it is offered by the employer, provided that an employee's working conditions are not adversely affected by choosing not to participate and the employee does not perform any work for the employer during the training.
What this bill touches.
Who it helps · who it burdens.
Who it helps
- employers covered by federal wage and hour lawThey no longer have to count voluntary education or training time held outside a worker's regular hours as paid hours for minimum wage or overtime, even when they offer or arrange the program themselves.
- workers who turn down an employer-offered programThe unpaid treatment applies only if attendance was voluntary and the employer takes no adverse action against a worker for declining; if the employer does punish a worker for declining, the time is not excluded and counts as paid hours.
Who it burdens
- hourly workers who attend training outside their scheduled shiftHours they spend at a voluntary education or training program outside their regular working hours are excluded from the hours used to calculate their minimum wage pay and overtime, so that time carries no pay claim.
The provisions, in plain language.
Time a worker spends at an education or training program outside their regular working hours does not count toward the hours used to figure their minimum wage pay or their overtime, even if the employer offers or sets up the program. This applies to hours worked on or after the day the Act becomes law.
That time only goes uncounted if going was the worker's own choice. If the employer punishes a worker for not attending, the time still counts as paid work hours.
If the worker does any work for the employer while attending the program, that time still counts as paid work hours.