Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), “wages” paid to an employee are defined to include money, but also may include “facilities” such as the reasonable cost or fair value of board, lodging or other facilities similar to board and lodging that are customarily furnished by the employer for the employee’s benefit.
Examples of other facilities are:
The FLSA permits employers to pay wages in facilities in addition to the employee’s cash wage or as deductions from the stipulated cash wage.
An employer may meet its obligation to pay minimum wage and overtime payments by furnishing board, lodging, and other facilities. An employer may not make a profit from the facilities, but may only treat the reasonable cost of the facilities as part of its minimum wage and overtime obligations.