Q: Does the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) apply to our ministry's employees individually?

A: The Fair Labor Standards Act may apply to some of your employees, even if it doesn't apply to your ministry as a whole.

If the FLSA doesn’t apply to your ministry as a whole, some of your employees may still be covered by FLSA under Individual Coverage. These employees are entitled to earn the federal minimum wage, plus overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division evaluates Individual Coverage under FLSA on a case-by-case basis. In each case, regulators determine whether or not the individual employee is “engaged in interstate commerce” on a “regular and recurrent” basis. “Interstate commerce” is defined broadly enough to include interstate telephone calls, interstate mail, and ordering or receiving materials across state lines.

There’s no clear definition of what “regular and recurrent” means. The Wage and Hour Division indicates that it will investigate each situation individually.

You’re encouraged to seek the counsel of a local attorney and a certified public accountant in making decisions about your ministry’s compliance with FLSA and its record-keeping and filing requirements.

Recommended Resources

If you found this information helpful, you might be interested in these other resources from Brotherhood Mutual:

• Learn how to avoid the most common wage and hour mistakes in our article Overtime: Does Your Ministry Comply?
• Improve your compliance with FLSA requirements by following the suggestions in our article What Pay Records Should Ministries Keep?
• Read about common FLSA exemptions in our article New Overtime Rule Changes for 2020.

*Important information: Brotherhood Mutual is pleased to provide Legal Assist as a complimentary resource. The services we offer through Legal Assist are intended to provide general legal information to our current and prospective policyholders.

The information we provide is intended to be helpful, but it does not constitute legal advice and is not a substitute for the advice from a licensed attorney in your area. Accordingly, no attorney/client relationship is created through this process, and no legal advice will be provided. We strongly encourage you to regularly consult with a local attorney as part of your risk management program.