S. 5646: Direct Seller and Real Estate Agent Harmonization Act

This bill would change the Fair Labor Standards Act to say that certain workers are not considered “employees” under that law. Specifically, it would exclude:

• Direct sellers — people who sell consumer products or services to buyers away from a fixed retail location, often on a commission or similar basis.
• Qualified real estate agents — real estate agents who meet the definition used in the Internal Revenue Code.

In practical terms, this means these workers would not be covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act’s employee-based rules for things like minimum wage and overtime. The bill is focused on clarifying that these categories of workers should be treated the same way under labor law as they are under the tax code definition the bill references.

The bill also updates a cross-reference in the law so that the Fair Labor Standards Act’s definition of “employee” explicitly points to this new exclusion. It does not create a new program, tax, or benefit; it mainly changes how federal wage-and-hour law applies to these two groups of workers.

Relevant Companies

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