YourVoice.Now Summary
Workers & JobsCorporate BenefitsIf you sell real estate or sell products person to person, federal pay rules would not cover you.
Workers & Jobs
Federal law sets a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for covered employees. Direct sellers and licensed real estate agents would be written out. That rate would not apply to their pay.
Employees covered by the law must get at least one and a half times their regular pay for hours past 40 in a week. Direct sellers and real estate agents would sit outside that rule.
Corporate Benefits
Today a seller or agent can argue in court that they were really an employee and ask for unpaid wages. Under the bill, that argument would no longer work under federal wage law.
More about this bill
If you sell real estate or sell products person-to-person, federal wage law would stop counting you as an employee. You would lose the federal minimum wage guarantee, which is $7.25 an hour today. You would also lose the right to overtime pay for hours past 40 in a week. And you could no longer bring a federal wage claim against the company or brokerage you sell through. The change is one sentence added to the Fair Labor Standards Act. That 1938 law sets these pay rules. Wage law would borrow the definition tax law already uses for these two jobs. To fit it, you must be paid based on what you sell, not hours worked. You must also have a written contract saying you are not an employee. Only federal law would change, so state wage rules would still apply. The House committee sent the bill to the floor in February 2026. It is not law yet.
Congressional Summary
Direct Seller and Real Estate Agent Harmonization Act This bill excludes a real estate agent or a direct seller of consumer products from the definition of an employee for the purpose of applying the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). Workers who are considered employees under the FLSA must be paid the minimum wage and are generally eligible to receive overtime compensation for hours worked in excess of a 40-hour workweek.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Reported to House
- Action Date
- 2026-02-11
- Date Added
- 2026-07-29
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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