Flexibility for Workers Education Act
Flexibility for Workers Education Act would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to exclude certain activities from “hours worked” for minimum wage and overtime calculations. Specifically, it preserves in place that time spent changing clothes or washing if a bona fide collective-bargaining agreement already excludes it. More prominently, it adds a new exclusion: time spent attending or participating in lectures, education, or training programs (and similar activities) would not count as hours worked if the attendance is outside the employee’s regular working hours, voluntary, and the employee does not perform productive work for the employer during that attendance. The change would apply to hours worked on or after the date of enactment. In short, after-hours, voluntary education-related activities that don’t involve productive work could be treated as non-working time for wage calculations, reducing the amount of time counted toward overtime.
Key Points
- 1Exclusion of attendance/participation in education or training from hours worked if outside regular hours, voluntary, and no productive work performed (conditions A–C).
- 2Preservation of the existing exclusion for changing clothes or washing time at the start/end of the workday, when such exclusion is already provided by a bona fide collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) or its terms/custom.
- 3The education/training exclusion applies regardless of whether the activity is offered or facilitated by the employer, as long as the specified conditions are met.
- 4Effective date: applies to hours worked on or after the date of enactment.
- 5Status and sponsorship: introduced in the House on March 21, 2025, sponsored by Mrs. Hinson (with Ms. Letlow and Mr. Messmer) and referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce; not yet enacted into law.