Work Samples and Work Simulation and Hours Worked Under the FLSA

Work samples and work simulations are types of rehabilitation services that are structured to resemble the work performed in the employer’s facility but are performed away from the normal production area. These activities do not yield a product used to fulfill any of the employer’s contracts, and the employer does not derive any economic benefit from the product. Such samples and simulations are supervised by non-production personnel and are a specific part of a well-defined program of rehabilitation.

The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division does not consider work samples or work simulations, as described above, to be hours worked or compensable when performed by workers with disabilities who receive special minimum wages under FLSA Section 14(c) provided none of the material, goods or services produced enters into the stream of commerce by being intermingled with the normal production of the employer. Typically, such materials would be discarded or recycled for future use in work simulation.

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