Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, DOL NEWS—WHD opinions provide guidance on recurring FLSA compliance issues, (Sep 9, 2026)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

The agency addresses questions involving unpaid break periods, nonprofit employee activities outside scheduled work, and supervisors’ access to gratuities.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has released three Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) opinion letters addressing compensable meal periods, volunteer activities by nonprofit employees, and the treatment of supervisors in tip-pooling arrangements. The agency also announced updates to its WorkWise Timesheet App, a mobile tool designed to help employees and employers record work hours and calculate pay. Together, the materials address several recurring wage-and-hour compliance issues involving hours worked, employee classification, and tipped employees.

Meal periods, employer-required travel time. In Opinion Letter FLSA2026-11, the division considered whether a 60-minute unpaid meal period remained a bona fide meal period when employees spent between six and 14 minutes walking to and from a designated break area. The request came from a security therapy aide working at a detention facility where employees were prohibited from bringing food beyond an entry building and were required to use a designated break area. According to the facts presented, employees received a 60-minute unpaid meal break under a collective bargaining agreement but spent three to seven minutes walking to the break area and the same amount of time returning to their workstations.

The division concluded that the meal period was bona fide and noncompensable under the FLSA. It explained that employees were relieved of their duties during the break and retained approximately 46 to 54 minutes in the designated meal area after accounting for travel time. The letter emphasized that the relevant inquiry is whether employees are relieved from duty and have sufficient time to use the period for eating a meal or engaging in personal activities. The agency stated that the remaining time available to employees substantially exceeded the 30 minutes ordinarily regarded as sufficient for a bona fide meal period and distinguished circumstances in which travel time may reduce a break to the point that it resembles a compensable rest period.

The division also noted that its analysis was limited to the FLSA and did not address whether the collective bargaining agreement separately entitled employees to a full 60 minutes in the designated break area.

Nonprofit employees, volunteer canine socialization work. Opinion Letter FLSA2026-12 addressed whether exempt employees of a nonprofit organization that breeds and trains service dogs may volunteer outside their normal work hours to provide juvenile canine socialization services in their homes. The nonprofit reported that certain exempt employees, including veterinarians, service-dog instructors, and directors overseeing instructors, wished to participate voluntarily in raising and socializing puppies outside working hours. The organization stated that such participation was voluntary, was not a job requirement, and would not interfere with regular work responsibilities.

Vets versus trainers. The division reiterated that employees of nonprofit organizations may volunteer for their employer when the services are offered freely and without coercion, are performed without expectation of compensation, and are not the same or similar to the services the employee is employed to perform. Applying those principles, the agency stated that veterinarians and directors could generally volunteer as juvenile canine caretakers if their regular duties differ sufficiently from the care, socialization, and early training associated with raising puppies. By contrast, trainers whose regular responsibilities include training, caring for, or socializing dogs would likely be performing the same or similar services and therefore could not be treated as volunteers for those activities.

The opinion also addressed the impact on exempt status if the activities are not properly classified as volunteer work. The division stated that an otherwise exempt employee may perform additional work without extra compensation, provided the employee continues to satisfy the applicable exemption requirements and the employee’s primary duty remains exempt work. The agency cautioned, however, that determining whether an employee’s primary duty has changed requires a fact-specific analysis.

Supervisors barred from retaining other employees’ tips. In Opinion Letter FLSA2026-13, the division examined whether a restaurant shift supervisor could receive a portion of other employees’ tips through a tip-pooling arrangement while also working as a bartender and assisting hosts and bussers. The request described a restaurant in which servers were required to share tips with bartenders, hosts, and bussers. The employee at issue periodically worked bartending shifts but also performed managerial functions, including scheduling employees and determining when shifts ended.

The division assumed for purposes of the opinion that the employee satisfied the duties requirements used to define a manager or supervisor under the FLSA’s tip provisions. Based on that assumption, the agency concluded that Section 3(m)(2)(B) prohibits the employee from receiving any portion of other employees’ tips, regardless of whether the employee also performs bartending duties or assists other tipped workers.

The letter explained that managers and supervisors may retain only tips received directly from customers for services they directly and solely provide. A supervisor working behind a bar, for example, may keep tips left directly by customers for that supervisor’s own bartending services. However, the supervisor may not receive distributions from a tip pool or otherwise keep tips attributable to other employees’ work. The opinion further noted that the prohibition applies even when managers perform tipped work alongside employees they supervise.

WorkWise app receives updates. Separately, the WHD announced updates to its WorkWise Timesheet App, a mobile application that allows employees and employers to record hours worked, break time, and overtime hours. The department said the updated version includes enhanced comment capabilities, additional pay-frequency options, and expanded pay-calculation features. The app is available free for iOS and Android devices in English and Spanish and includes options for both employees and employers. The department stated that the application is intended to help users maintain accurate records of hours worked and calculate pay based on information entered into the system.

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