On May 29, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued four opinion letters addressing the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The letters cover overtime exemptions, bonuses and the regular rate of pay, and compensable time. As with all opinion letters, they provide WHD’s official interpretation of how the FLSA applies to the specific facts presented, and they may offer useful guidance to other employers facing similar questions.
FLSA Opinion Letters
Short summaries of and links to the four letters are below. Several touch on questions that higher ed HR teams may encounter, so we encourage HR leaders to review each of these opinion letters.
FLSA2026-5: Whether an employee who is exempt under section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA may perform additional work in a secondary role paid at an hourly rate, and, if so, what overtime implications may arise.
FLSA2026-6: Whether a bonus calculated by comparing an employee’s combined straight-time and overtime earnings to those of all bonus-eligible employees qualifies as a “percentage of total earnings” bonus under 29 C.F.R. 778.210 — an approach that provides for simultaneous payment of any overtime due on the bonus and thus satisfies the FLSA’s overtime requirement.
FLSA2026-7: Whether time an employee voluntarily spends crossing the employer’s premises and passing through a controlled access point during a meal break is compensable when employees are allotted a 30-minute meal period and permitted to remain on-site during that time.
FLSA2026-8: Whether certain pre-shift activities performed by hospital employees count as compensable work and, if so, whether an employer may round employees’ clock-in time to their scheduled shift start time.
While DOL opinion letters are not binding law, courts often give them persuasive deference and may look to them for guidance in understanding the department’s interpretation of the law and employers’ compliance practices.
CUPA-HR will continue to update members on future opinion letters.