Flexibility for Workers Education Act
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The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act so that voluntary education or training an employee attends outside regular work hours does not count as compensable "hours worked," even if the employer offers it.
It matters because it would let employers offer optional skills training without triggering overtime pay obligations, as long as employees face no penalty for skipping it and do no actual work during the session.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would rewrite the Fair Labor Standards Act's definition of "hours worked" to exclude time an employee spends attending or participating in an education, training, or similar activity, such as a lecture, even when the employer offers or facilitates it. The exclusion would apply only if the activity occurs outside the employee's regular working hours, participation is voluntary with no adverse action against employees who decline, and the employee performs no actual work for the employer during the activity.
The change would apply to hours worked on or after the date of enactment. It retains the existing exclusion for time spent changing clothes or washing under a collective-bargaining agreement, and it does not otherwise alter overtime or minimum-wage rules under the Act.
Key provisions
- 1Would exclude voluntary attendance at education, training, or similar activities outside regular working hours from the definition of "hours worked" under the Fair Labor Standards Act
- 2Would require that employees face no adverse action for declining to attend or participate in the training for the exclusion to apply
- 3Would require that the employee perform no actual work for the employer during the training for the time to be excluded
- 4Would apply the amended definition to hours worked on or after the date of enactment
Who would be affected
Employers who offer optional education, training programs, or lectures to their workforce, and hourly employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime and minimum-wage provisions who might attend such training outside their scheduled shifts.
Why it matters
Employers could offer voluntary skill-building programs outside shift hours without owing overtime pay for that time, potentially expanding access to training. Workers who attend would not be compensated for that time, and the practical effect depends on whether they can decline without facing informal pressure or career consequences.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Amends Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. § 203(o)) (Sec. 2(a))
Rewrites the definition of hours worked to add an exclusion for voluntary, off-hours education or training in which the employee performs no work
Effective dates
- The amended definition of hours worked applies to hours worked
Funding and costs
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates that H.R. 2262 would have no significant effect on the federal budget.
H.R. 2262 would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by removing the requirement that employer-sponsored training or educational activities be "unrelated to the employee's job" in order to be excluded from compensable work time. Under current law, attendance at lectures, training programs, and similar activities need not count as work time only if the activity is voluntary, outside regular working hours, unrelated to the employee's job, and involves no productive work. CBO found no significant direct spending, revenue, or deficit effects from this bill. The estimate did not identify any intergovernmental or private-sector mandates that would exceed the statutory thresholds.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
Official CRS summary
Show the CRS summaryHide the CRS summary
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.
Legislative subjects
Employment and training programs; Labor and Employment; Labor standards; Wages and earnings
Committee report
H. Rept. 119-423