The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has advanced two bills to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). These bills would incentivize employers to offer voluntary job-related training and to provide overtime-eligible employees with child and dependent care benefits.
H.R. 2262 would exclude time spent in after-hours training programs from hours worked, even if the training programs are job-related. Current DOL guidance treats job-related training programs as compensable time even if they are voluntary and outside work hours. The change could motivate employers to offer more after-hours training programs.
H.R. 2270 would exclude child or dependent care services from the “regular rate” of pay. The “regular rate” of pay, which is the basis for calculating overtime premium pay, includes all compensation for employment unless an exclusion applies. H.R. 2270 would allow employers to exclude reimbursements and payments for child or dependent care services from an employee’s regular rate. Instead, these payments would be treated like employer payments for health insurance, giving employers an incentive to offer these benefits to overtime-eligible employees.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, can read more here.