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Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

INSTRUCTIONS For FORM WH-2 (Application for Special
Industrial Homeworker Certificate) and FORM WH-46 (Application for Certificate
to Employ Homeworkers)

Under Section 11(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. §
211(d), the Secretary of Labor is "authorized to make such regulations and
orders regulating, restricting, or prohibiting industrial homework as are
necessary or appropriate to prevent the circumvention or evasion of and to
safeguard the minimum wage rate prescribe in this Act…." The regulations
regarding the employment of homeworkers may be found in 29 C.F.R. Part 530.

Industrial homework, as defined by the regulations, means the production by
any person in or about a home, apartment, tenement, or room in a residential
establishment of goods for an employer who suffers or permits such production,
regardless of the source (whether obtained from an employer or elsewhere) of the
material used by the homeworker in such production. 29 C.F.R. § 516.31(a)(2). An
industrial homeworker is any employee employed or suffered or permitted to
perform industrial homework for an employer. 29 C.F.R. § 516.31(a)(1).

Regulations, 29 C.F.R. Part 530, require that employers obtain certificates
from the U. S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division authorizing the
employment of homeworkers in certain restricted industries before the employment
may commence. 29 C.F.R. § 530.1-.2. The seven restricted industries which are
listed and defined in the regulations are:

Women's Apparel Industry

Jewelry Manufacturing Industry

Knitted Outerwear Industry

Gloves and Mittens Industry

Handkerchief Manufacturing Industry

Embroideries Industry

Button and Buckle Manufacturing Industry

Two different types of certificates are issued by the Wage and Hour Division
- an individual industrial homeworker certificate which authorizes a specific
individual to perform homework in a restricted industry because of certain
circumstances impacting that employee's ability to work outside the home (i.e.,
use Form WH-2); and an employer homeworker certificate that authorizes an
employer to employ homeworkers in a particular restricted industry, except
women's apparel. No employer homeworker certificates may be issued for the
women's apparel industry (i.e., use Form WH-46).

WH-2
OMB Control
No.: 1235-0001 Exp. Date: 03/31/2014
Persons are not required to
respond to the request for information unless it displays a currently valid OMB
Control Number.

The WH-2 is the application to use when
requesting permission to employ an individual industrial homeworker in one of
the seven restricted industries who is unable to work in a factory setting
because (a) he or she is unable to adjust to such work because of age, or
physical or mental disability; (b) he or she is unable to leave home because his
or her presence is required to care for an invalid in the home, or (c) he or she
will be engaged in industrial homework under the supervision of a State
Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. The WH-2 includes a block in which the
(potential) homeworker is to explain fully why he or she is unable to work in a
factory setting. Another portion of the form requires medical confirmation of
the need for the individual to work at home. Please note that the form requires
the signatures of the employee, the employer, and a physician.

WH-46
OMB Control
No.: 1235-0001 Exp. Date: 03/31/2014
Persons are not required to
respond to the request for information unless it displays a currently valid OMB
Control Number.

The WH-46 is the application an employer
submits when seeking to obtain authority to employ multiple industrial
homeworkers in a restricted industry (other than women's apparel). The form
requires the employer to list the names and addresses of the individuals to be
employed as homeworkers. In addition, if the language of the homeworker is other
than English, the employer must indicate the language spoken.

All homeworker certificate applications are processed at a single location.
Completed applications shall be submitted to the following address:

U.S. Department of Labor
Wage and Hour Division
Attention:
Homeworker Certification
230 S. Dearborn Street
Room 514

Chicago, IL 60604-1757
Telephone: (312) 596-7195

You may contact that office at 1-866-4-USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) with questions
regarding the employment of homeworkers in restricted industries and the
application and certification processes.

All homeworkers subject to the provisions of the FLSA must be paid in
compliance with the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Act. In
addition, records must be maintained in accordance with section 11(c) of the
FLSA and Regulations, 29 CFR Part 516. All homeworkers must complete a
homeworker handbook in accordance with Regulations, Part 516.31 and shall be
instructed to accurately record all hours worked, piece work information, and
business related expenses in the handbook. Homeworker Handbooks (Form WH-75) are
available in several different languages from the Wage and Hour Division.
Homeworker Handbooks are cleared by OMB under control number 1235-0001,
expiration date 03-31-2014. Persons are not
required to respond to the request for information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB Control Number.

Note: In order to view, fill out, and print PDF forms, you
need Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® version 5 or later, which you may download for free
at http://www.dol.gov/cgi-bin/leave-dol.asp?exitURL=http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html&exitTitle=Adobe%20Systems%20Incorporated.
To save the completed forms on your workstation, you need to use the "Save..As"
method to save the file.
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link and click on your "RIGHT" mouse button. This will cause a menu to be
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For Microsoft IE users, select "Save Target As"

For Netscape Navigator users, select "Save Link As"

Once you've selected the proper save option for your browser, and have saved
the file to a location you specified, go to your program menu and start the
Adobe Acrobat® Reader. Once open, locate the PDF file you saved and open it
directly in Acrobat®.

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