U.S. Department of Labor Issues Three New Wage and Hour Opinion Letters

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that it has issued three new opinion letters that address compliance issues related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). An opinion letter is an official, written opinion by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) on how a particular law applies in specific circumstances presented by the individual person or entity that requested the letter.

The opinion letters issued today are:

FMLA2019-2-A, addressing whether time spent attending a Committee on Special Education meeting to discuss a child’s Individualized Education Program qualifies as FMLA leave;

FLSA2019-11, addressing the application of the section 7(k) overtime exemption to public agency employees engaged in both fire protection and law enforcement activities; and

FLSA2019-12, addressing the employment status of volunteer reserve deputies who may perform paid extra duty work for third parties.

The Department offers a search function allowing users to search existing opinion letters by keyword, year, topic, and a variety of other filters; and encourages the public to submit requests for opinion letters to WHD to obtain an opinion or to determine whether existing guidance already addresses their questions. WHD exercises its discretion in determining whether and how it will respond to each request. 

This release marks the 44th, 45th, and 46th opinion letters issued by WHD during this Administration.

WHD’s mission is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation’s workforce. WHD enforces federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements of the FLSA. WHD also enforces the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the FMLA, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration-related statutes. Additionally, WHD administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act and other statutes applicable to federal contracts for construction and for the provision of goods and services.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.