Congressional Record, Volume 144 Issue 85 (Thursday, June 25, 1998)

[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 85 (Thursday, June 25, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H5386-H5387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

PROVIDING THAT CERTAIN VOLUNTEERS AT PRIVATE NON-PROFIT FOOD BANKS ARE
NOT EMPLOYEES FOR PURPOSES OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT

Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the
Committee on Education and the Workforce be discharged from further
consideration of the bill (H.R. 3152) to provide that certain
volunteers at private non-profit food banks are not employees for
purposes of the Fair Labor Standands Act of 1938, and ask for its
immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from North Carolina?
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, although I do
not intend to object, and I ask that the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Ballenger) offer an explanation for his request.
Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. OWENS. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3152 is intended to address a very
narrow issue under the Fair Labor Standards Act but a very important
issue for many of our Nation's food banks. H.R. 3152 clarifies that
persons who help at food banks on a volunteer basis and receive
groceries from the food bank are not employees of the food bank.
The legislation is necessary because of the inconsistent and
conflicting interpretations given in the past by the Department of
Labor. In 1992 in response to questions from the Congressional
Homelessness Task Force, Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin wrote, ``It
does not appear that volunteers at nonprofit food distribution centers
would be considered employees of the centers.''
Five years later, in May of 1997, in response to a request by food
bank centers for a formal advisory letter on the status of such
volunteers, the Office of the Solicitor of the Department of Labor said
it appears that distributing organizations would be compensating needy
individuals in the form of benefits, that is, food or other products,
for services that the individuals performed for organizations and that
the individuals, if they meet the indigence requirements, would expect
to receive the products in return for their services. Under this
scenario we would consider these individuals employees of the
distributing organizations.
Four months later, however, the Solicitor of Labor reversed course
again, and he wrote, ``Individuals who volunteer their services for
humanitarian purposes and without contemplation of compensation to
religious, charitable and similar not-for-profit organizations are not
considered to be employed by such organizations for the purpose of the
Fair Labor Standards Act. Therefore, such individuals would not be
covered by the minimum wage requirements of the Fair Labor Standards
Act.''
While the Department of Labor's current position is that individuals
who volunteer for food banks and who receive groceries and food items
from the food banks are not employees, the history of the Department of
Labor's conflicting and inconsistent statements and letters indicates a
need to clarify this point in the statute. Food banks which use such
volunteers and encourage such volunteerism among those who receive food
assistance should be able to do so without concern that they are
triggering an employment relationship including wage and other
employment liabilities.
H.R. 3152 provides clarification that food banks may give groceries
and food items to individuals who volunteer their services to the food
bank solely for humanitarian purposes without deeming those individuals
as employees.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3152 is a very narrow bill intended to clarify a
specific situation on which the Department of Labor has provided
conflicting and contradictory rulings. There are, of course, many other
situations in which individuals receive various types of benefits in
conjunction with performing community services. The fact that we are
clarifying the FLSA to say explicitly that individuals who volunteer at
food banks and receive groceries are not employees should not be in any
way construed to mean that by doing so Congress is showing an intent
that any other individual who performs community services and receives
benefits is an employee.
And I want to commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell)
the sponsor of 3152 for pursuing this clarification, and I urge support
of the bill.
Mr. OWENS. Further reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, I
thank the gentleman for his explanation and rise in support of the
bill. This incident is just one example of the fact that the Fair Labor
Standards Act is flexible, the Fair Labor Standards Act will yield to
common sense after due deliberation. The Fair Labor Standards Act of
1938, I might point out also, is enjoying its 60th anniversary today.
The Fair Labor Standards Act was passed 60 years ago. It established
the 40-hour week, overtime pay, the ban on child labor and the minimum
wage. Today we celebrate an important day in American history, and on
this day I think we should renew our effort to bring the minimum wage
up to standard.
The minimum wage now is $5.15 cents per hour, and that is still a
poverty wage. It is a wage without opportunity or hope. As far as
working people are concerned, the minimum wage still has not caught up
with the years of inflation. We are still way behind in terms of buying
power of the dollars that workers receive, so the minimum wage needs to
be increased just to bring us one step closer to where the buying power
of the dollar is today.
I think it is only fitting and proper in a time of great prosperity
that we increase the minimum wage. It is one way to share the
prosperity and help us to guarantee the pursuit of happiness on a fair
playing field for everybody. On this important anniversary of the
minimum wage, let us recommit ourselves to create an opportunity for
all working Americans. When we return after recess, I hope we will vote
to raise the minimum wage.
Further reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, I yield to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell) for his statement.
Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I
also thank the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Ballenger) for his kindness in pursuing this legislation, his
conscientiousness in bringing us to this moment, and the chairman of
the full committee, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling) for
the similar courtesy he has shown.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is sponsored for one very important and simple
purpose. It is to allow food banks to give not only food but dignity.
Those individuals who are of lesser means, who volunteer their time in
order to help put together bags of groceries, are sometimes given a bag
of groceries for the hours that they may work, in recognition, not as a
wage, but because they themselves might also be in need. It is a way
for a person who has need to receive help in his or her own right in a
way that confers and maintains their dignity as a human being.
Mr. Speaker, the bill came to my attention because of the excellent
work of the Second Harvest Food Bank, and in closing I would like to
recognize the individuals involved in the exceptionally fine work of
the Second Harvest Food Bank, in particular Mary Ellen Heising, for 18
years the director of the Second Harvest Food Bank, David Sandretto,
the current executive director, and Cindy McGoun and Beverly Jackson
who run the volunteer program.

{time} 1800

The bill will be amended shortly by my colleague and good friend, the
subcommittee chair, so that it will be styled the Amy Somers Volunteers
at Food Bank Recognition Bill, and this is in recognition of Amy
Somers, who in December of last year passed away. She had been for four
years the director of the food bank.
I conclude by observing that as sure as I am standing here, I have
faith that

[[Page H5387]]

all of us will stand before our maker and will have to answer the
question, when I was hungry, did you give me to eat; when I was
thirsty, did you give me to drink. In the case of Amy Somers, for whom
we will name this bill, the answer is most assuredly, yes; yes, she
did.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hefley). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from North Carolina?
There was no objection.
The Clerk read the bill, as follows:

H.R. 3152

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938.

Section 3(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29
U.S.C. 203(e)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(5) The term `employee' does not include individuals who
volunteer their services solely for humanitarian purposes to
private non-profit food banks and who receive from the food
banks groceries.''.

Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute Offered by Mr. Ballenger

Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, I offer an amendment in the nature of a
substitute.
The Clerk read as follows:

Amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Mr.
Ballenger:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Amy Somers Volunteers at
Food Banks Act''.

SEC. 2. FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938.

Mr. BALLENGER (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous
consent that the amendment be considered as read and printed in the
Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from North Carolina?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the amendment in the
nature of a substitute offered by the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Ballenger).
The amendment in the nature of a substitute was agreed to.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read
the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the
table.

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