On September 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued Opinion Letter FLSA2026‑12, addressing when employees of a nonprofit organization may volunteer for their employer and when those activities become compensable work.
The opinion arose from a nonprofit organization that breeds, raises, and trains service dogs. The organization wanted to know whether certain employees could volunteer outside normal working hours to provide in-home juvenile canine socialization services.
Although the Fair Labors Standards Act (FLSA) addresses volunteering for public employers, the WHD noted that it has long applied the same principles to employees of religious, charitable, and nonprofit organizations.
Relying on the principles it applies to public-sector volunteers, the WHD concluded that an employee may volunteer for their nonprofit employer when the employee:
As with public-sector employees, the WHD takes the position that a nonprofit employee cannot serve as both a paid employee and an unpaid volunteer while performing the same or similar services for the same employer. Where an employee volunteers to perform the same type of work the employee is hired to perform, the WHD views that volunteer work as an...
Claim: An X user posted a viral publication from a newspaper claiming that the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is reportedly battling a terminal illness and has been flown out of the country ...