DOL Opinion Letter on Volunteerism

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a new opinion letter setting forth the common sense rule that volunteer employees cannot volunteer to perform the same work they are paid to do. In this case, volunteers who chaperoned field trips and bingo games were not covered under FLSA, but only because the "services are not the same type of service the employee is employed to perform and take place outside of the employee’s normal working hours."