The FLSA seasonal employee exemption lets qualifying amusement parks, recreational venues, summer camps, and similar establishments pay their workers below the $7.25 federal minimum wage and skip overtime pay entirely, provided the business either operates no more than seven months a year or shows extreme swings between its busy and slow seasons.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 213 – Exemptions The exemption comes from 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(3), and it attaches to the establishment as a whole. Every worker at a qualifying location shares the same exempt status, whether they run a ride, cook in the kitchen, or handle maintenance year-round.
The Two Tests for Qualifying
A business needs to pass only one of the two tests.
Seven Months or Fewer
The simpler path is calendar-based. If the establishment does not operate for more than seven months in any calendar year, it qualifies.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 213 – Exemptions “Operate” here means open to the public for its primary recreational purpose. A ski lodge running November through April fits comfortably within the window. Pre-season prep and post-season teardown performed while the venue is closed to the public generally do not count as operating, but the Department of Labor looks closely at that line.
The One-Third Revenue Test
An establishment open longer than seven months can still qualify if its revenue is sharply seasonal. Compare the six lowest-revenue months of the prior calendar year to the six highest-revenue months. Average monthly receipts during the slow half must not exceed one-third of average monthly receipts during the busy half.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 213 – Exemptions
The math is straightforward. Total the receipts from the six slowest months and divide by six. Do the same for the six busiest. If the smaller number is no more than 33⅓ percent of the larger, the business qualifies. A waterpark that stays open year-round but earns 85 percent of its revenue between May and October would likely pass. A venue with roughly steady monthly income would not.
Because the test relies on the prior calendar year’s numbers, a first-year business cannot use it. New establishments have to stay inside the seven-month limit or wait until they have a full year of financial history.
Which Businesses the Exemption Covers
The statute reaches amusement or recreational establishments, organized camps, and religious or nonprofit educational conference centers.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 213 – Exemptions Federal regulations describe qualifying businesses as those “frequented by the public for its amusement or recreation.”2eCFR. 29 CFR 779.385 – Amusement or Recreational Establishments Typical examples include seasonal amusement parks, summer camps, ski resorts, swimming pools, county fairs, and beach concessions. Church retreat centers and nonprofit conference facilities that close for part of the year also fall inside the exemption, which many employers in that space overlook.
The critical word is “establishment.” The analysis looks at the nature of the location itself, not at individual job descriptions. A full-time maintenance worker at a seasonal theme park has the same exempt status as a temporary ride operator because the park is what qualifies. A seasonal gift shop inside a year-round amusement park can sometimes qualify separately, but only if it keeps its own records, occupies a distinct physical space, and runs on its own seasonal schedule. Courts want genuine physical and functional separation before treating a subunit as its own establishment.
Workers the Exemption Does Not Reach
Not everyone working at an exempt location is exempt. The status follows the employer, not the address.
Employees of independent contractors keep their full FLSA protections. A separate trash-hauling company, a third-party security firm, or an outside caterer servicing a seasonal park is its own year-round business, and it fails the seasonality tests on its own. Those workers get standard minimum wage and overtime even though they clock in at an exempt site.
Central administrative staff also fall outside the exemption. Accountants, HR personnel, and executives working year-round at a corporate headquarters that supports a seasonal park are employed by the general business operation, not by the recreational establishment. Their duties do not connect to the on-site experience the statute is aimed at, and they must be paid under standard FLSA rules.
National Park and Forest Concessionaires
Private companies that operate lodges, restaurants, or tours inside national parks, national forests, or National Wildlife Refuge lands under a federal contract are cut out of the exemption by statute. Both minimum wage and overtime exemptions are off the table.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 213 – Exemptions One narrow carve-out exists: ski operations in national parks and national forests can still claim the minimum wage exemption, though they remain subject to standard overtime. Every other type of federal-lands concessionaire owes full minimum wage and overtime regardless of how seasonal the operation is.
What the Exemption Actually Waives
A qualifying establishment is exempt from both FLSA sections 206 and 207. It can pay less than the $7.25 federal minimum wage, and it does not owe time-and-a-half for hours over 40 in a workweek.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 213 – Exemptions3U.S. Department of Labor. Minimum Wage That combination is unusually broad. Most FLSA exemptions waive one or the other, not both.
The overtime piece is where employers see the largest savings. A resort can schedule workers for 60 or 70 hours during peak weeks and pay every hour at the same straight-time rate. Workers taking these jobs should expect paychecks that look different from what they would earn in a non-exempt role. No federal premium pay is required during the season, no matter how the schedule stretches.
The exemption lasts only as long as the establishment qualifies. If a business fails the seven-month test and cannot pass the revenue test, every worker reverts to full FLSA coverage. Employers cannot pick and choose pay periods.
What Still Applies
Waiving minimum wage and overtime does not waive everything else.
Child Labor Rules
Federal child labor rules apply at seasonal establishments the same as anywhere else. When school is not in session, 14- and 15-year-olds can work up to 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, with tighter limits when school is running.4eCFR. Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation Fifteen-year-olds may serve as lifeguards at constructed pools and waterparks if they hold Red Cross or equivalent certification; 14-year-olds cannot lifeguard at all, and even certified 15-year-olds are barred from mechanical rooms, chemical storage, and elevated water-slide platforms.5eCFR. 29 CFR 570.34 – Occupations That May Be Performed by Minors 14 and 15 Years of Age Minors are also barred from operating power-driven equipment common on recreational grounds: mowers, golf carts, ATVs, food slicers, and similar machinery. Workers under 16 cannot repair equipment, drive motor vehicles, load trucks, or work from ladders.
Child labor penalties are steeper than wage violations. The Department of Labor can assess up to $16,035 per child, rising to $72,876 for serious injury or death, or $145,752 for willful or repeated violations.6U.S. Department of Labor. Civil Money Penalty Inflation Adjustments
Recordkeeping
Seasonal employers must keep the same payroll records as any FLSA-covered business: employee identification data, hours worked, and wages paid, retained for at least three years. Supporting time cards and wage tables must be kept two years.7eCFR. Records to Be Kept by Employers Businesses relying on the revenue test have a further reason to keep clean records: if the DOL audits the seasonal claim, the employer must produce monthly receipts proving the one-third ratio. Without those numbers, there is no defense.
State Law
The FLSA sets a floor, not a ceiling. Many states have their own minimum wage and overtime laws, and not all include a seasonal amusement exemption. Where state law is more protective, state law controls. An employer can be fully exempt federally and still owe overtime or a higher minimum wage under state law. Some states set separate seasonal minimum wage rates that fall below the general state minimum but still above the federal $7.25. Employers with operations in multiple states need to check each state’s rules before relying on the federal exemption alone.
Lodging and Meal Credits
Many seasonal employers house their workers, especially summer camps, ski resorts, and remote facilities. Under FLSA Section 3(m), an employer can count the reasonable cost of lodging and meals toward wages, reducing the cash amount owed.8U.S. Department of Labor. Credit Towards Wages Under Section 3(m) Questions and Answers Five conditions must all be met:
- The lodging is the type customarily provided by the employer or by similar employers in the industry.
- The employee accepts the lodging voluntarily, not as a mandatory condition of employment.
- The housing meets applicable federal, state, and local safety codes.
- The lodging primarily benefits the employee, not the employer’s convenience.
- The employer keeps accurate records of actual costs.
The credit cannot exceed the lesser of reasonable cost (actual expense, no markup) or fair value (comparable rentals in the area). Lodging value must also be calculated workweek by workweek when figuring the regular rate of pay for overtime, which still matters for any non-exempt employees on the payroll or during periods when the seasonal exemption does not apply.
Penalties for Getting the Classification Wrong
An employer that claims the exemption without meeting either test owes every affected worker their full unpaid minimum wages and overtime. On top of that, the FLSA provides liquidated damages equal to the unpaid wages, effectively doubling the liability.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties For a park with 200 employees working 50-hour weeks across a 14-week season, the exposure grows quickly.
Workers have two years from the violation to file a claim, or three years if the violation was willful.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 255 – Statute of Limitations The DOL can also impose civil money penalties of up to $2,515 per violation for repeated or willful infractions,6U.S. Department of Labor. Civil Money Penalty Inflation Adjustments and each underpaid employee in each pay period can count as a separate violation. Willful violations can bring criminal fines up to $10,000 and imprisonment up to six months, though prosecution is rare for first offenses.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties
Employees, the Secretary of Labor, or both can bring suit. Once the DOL supervises payment of back wages, the employee’s independent right to sue for those wages is extinguished, though the DOL can still seek liquidated damages. Misclassification is not a bookkeeping problem. It compounds across every worker and every pay period, with enough runway in the statute of limitations for serious liability to build before anyone files a complaint.