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Fair Wages for Incarcerated Workers Act of 2026
To require coverage of incarcerated workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to extend employment protections to incarcerated workers. The bill defines incarcerated workers as individuals in correctional facilities (public or private) who perform work, including in prison industries, work release programs, and facility maintenance. Incarcerated workers are covered as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employed by either the public agency operating the facility or the private entity operating it under contract. Wages paid to incarcerated workers cannot include deductions for board, lodging, or facilities, and cannot be reduced by court-imposed fees such as surcharges, administrative fees, or attorney fees. The bill excludes from this protection court-ordered payments for child support, crime victim compensation, civil judgments, and criminal fines.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
1 cosponsor
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Cory A. Booker’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $92,425
- PRIME HEALTHCARE $19,800
- APOLLO $15,800
- LOWENSTEIN SANDLER LLP $15,700
- HARVARD UNIVERSITY $14,100
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Cory A. Booker → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Mar 19, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
- Mar 19, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 19, 2026
Mr. Booker introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To require coverage of incarcerated workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Fair Wages for Incarcerated Workers Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. COVERAGE OF INCARCERATED WORKERS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938.
Section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203) is amended—
(1) in subsection (e)—
(A) in paragraph (2)—
(i) in subparagraph (B), by striking “; and” and inserting a semicolon;
(ii) in subparagraph (C)(ii)(V), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
“(D) any individual employed as an incarcerated worker by a public agency that operates the correctional facility in which such individual is incarcerated or detained.”; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
“(6) The term ‘employee’ includes (in addition to an individual described in paragraph (2)(D)) any individual employed as an incarcerated worker by a private entity that operates, through a contract with a public agency, the correctional facility in which such individual is incarcerated or detained.”;
(2) in subsection (m)(1), by striking “any employee.” and inserting “any employee: Provided further, That, in the case of an employee who is an incarcerated worker, the cost of board, lodging, or other facilities and any amount taken from amounts paid such incarcerated worker for payment of a court- imposed fee shall not be included in the wage paid to such employee.”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(z)(1) ‘Incarcerated worker’ means an individual, incarcerated or detained in a correctional facility operated by a public agency or by a private entity through a contract with a public agency, who performs work offered or required by or through the correctional facility, including work associated with prison work programs, work release programs, the UNICOR program, State prison industries, public works programs, restitution centers, correctional facility operations and maintenance, and private entities.
“(2) An incarcerated worker shall be considered employed by—
“(A) the public agency operating the correctional facility in which the individual is incarcerated or detained; or
“(B) in the case of a correctional facility operated by a private entity through a contract with a public agency, such private entity. “(aa) ‘Correctional facility’ has the meaning given such term in section 901 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251). “(bb)(1) ‘Court-imposed fee’ means any fee imposed by a court as a result of a criminal conviction, including any surcharge imposed for a felony or misdemeanor conviction, a criminal justice administrative fee, a court-appointed attorney fee, a court clerk fee, a filing clerk fee, a DNA database fee, a jury fee, a crime lab analysis fee, a late fee, an installment fee, or any other court cost.
“(2) The term ‘court-imposed fee’ does not include any amount required by a court to be paid for child support, to a crime victim compensation fund, for a civil judgment, or for a criminal fine.”. <all>
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