Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor

Individual Coverage

Individual coverage depends on the nature of the employee's  work. An employee is covered on an individual basis in every workweek in which he or she performs any work constituting engagement in interstate or foreign commerce, or the production of goods for interstate or foreign commerce, including any closely related process or occupation directly essential to such production. The terms in italics will be defined later in this section.

The workweek is the standard to be used in determining if the FLSA applies. An employee may be individually covered in one workweek and not covered in the following workweek. Also, some employees of an employer may be individually covered by the FLSA, and others not.

Section 12(a) of the FLSA covers youth employed in or about an establishment in which goods are produced for commerce. Under this provision, the youth does not have to be personally engaged in the production of goods for interstate commerce to be protected by the child labor provisions of the FLSA. As long as somewhere in or about the establishment where the youth is employed, or within 30 days of the youth's employment, goods are produced and removed for shipment in commerce, the youth is protected by the child labor provisions of the FLSA. For more information on the child labor provisions of the FLSA, click the underlined text.

Select from the list below for further information on the activities which would make employment individually covered:

• Engagement in interstate commerce and /or closely related work
• Production of goods for interstate commerce and/or closely related process
• Construction activities
• Domestic service

Note: It is recommended that you explore all of these options with respect to the duties of your employees.