H.R. 8660

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8660 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8660

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to protect worker access 
to employer equity, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 4, 2026

Mr. Mackenzie introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to protect worker access 
to employer equity, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Valuing Employee Stock Today Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) The Worker Economic Opportunity Act of 2000 (Public Law 
106-202) amended section 7(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act 
of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 207(e)) by adding a new paragraph (8) to 
such section 7(e) to exempt any value or income derived from 
employer-provided grants or rights provided pursuant to a stock 
option, stock appreciation right, or bona fide employee stock 
purchase program from the determination of an employee's 
regular rate for purposes of calculating such employee's 
overtime compensation.
(2) The lack of explicit mention of restricted stock units 
in paragraph (8) of section 7(e) of the Fair Labor Standards 
Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 207(e)), as added by the Worker Economic 
Opportunity Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-202), was not an 
intentional exclusion from such paragraph (8), but a reflection 
that this type of equity award was not commonly used as of the 
date of enactment of the Worker Economic Opportunity Act of 
2000 (Public Law 106-202).
(3) Congress clearly established in the Joint Statement of 
Legislative Intent accompanying the Worker Economic Opportunity 
Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-202) that such Act was designed to 
be broad and flexible enough ``to accommodate a wide variety of 
[employee equity] programs'' and to ``be flexible and forward-
looking'' and interpreted consistent with its purpose ``to 
encourage employers to provide opportunities for equity 
participation to employees''.
(4) In the years since 2000, restricted stock units have 
become a highly common form of equity for both salaried and 
hourly employees that, consistent with the Joint Statement of 
Legislative Intent accompanying the Worker Economic Opportunity 
Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-202), allow employees to share in 
the future success of their companies through a mechanism that 
may not otherwise be available to rank-and-file workers.
(5) Restricted stock units should qualify for the exemption 
from regular rate determinations under paragraph (8) of section 
7(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 
207(e)(8)) because such paragraph would have explicitly 
mentioned restricted stock units as qualifying for such 
exemption had restricted stock units been a common form of 
employer-provided equity compensation as of the date of 
enactment of the Worker Economic Opportunity Act of 2000 
(Public Law 106-202).

SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF THE EMPLOYER EQUITY EXEMPTION FROM REGULAR 
RATE DETERMINATIONS.

(a) Clarification.--Section 7(e)(8) of the Fair Labor Standards Act 
of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 207(e)(8)) is amended--
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 
``or bona fide employee stock purchase program'' and inserting 
``bona fide employee stock purchase program, or restricted 
stock unit program''; and
(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``exercise'' and 
inserting ``exercise or acceptance''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act.
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