[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.

       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.''.

  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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