The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Horticulture recently held a hearing to address growing concerns that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is using the "hot goods" provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) in an arbitrary manner against producers of perishable agricultural products.

Under the "hot goods" provision of the FLSA, "hot goods" are goods produced in violation of the FLSA minimum wage, overtime, and child labor provisions. The FLSA makes it illegal for anyone to ship, sell, or transport "hot goods" in interstate commerce.

Chairman Austin Scott and ranking member Kurt Schrader have co-sponsored HR 1387, which would exempt perishable agricultural products from the scope of the "hot goods" provision in the FLSA.