Static educational checklist — not a calculator. No parking / wellness / tuition inputs, no regular-rate engines, no live OT math. Spot common FLSA § 778.224 “other similar payments” red flags: when parking benefits, wellness programs, tuition benefits, adoption assistance, employer retail discounts, and similar conveniences may stay out of the regular rate under section 7(e)(2)’s residual clause; when “similar” labels fail because the payment depends on hours, services, job performance, or work quality/quantity; and when payroll collapses those payments with § 778.217 expenses, § 778.215 benefit-plan contributions, § 778.212 gifts, § 778.211 discretionary bonuses, or board/lodging facilities. Distinct from the expense-reimbursement (§ 778.217), benefit-plan (§ 778.215), gifts (§ 778.212), talent-fees (§ 778.225), and premium-credit cheat-sheet pages.
Baseline — what § 778.224 covers (and does not)
Under 29 CFR § 778.224, FLSA section 7(e)(2) authorizes exclusion from the regular rate of “other similar payments” to an employee which are not made as compensation for his hours of employment. Sections 778.216 through 778.223 discuss the basic types expressly listed in § 7(e)(2); § 778.224 is the residual “similar” clause. Such payments do not depend on hours worked, services rendered, job performance, or other criteria that depend on the quality or quantity of the employee’s work. Conditions not dependent on quality or quantity may include a reasonable waiting period for eligibility, a requirement to repay benefits as a remedy for misconduct, and limiting eligibility by geographic location or job position. Examples in § 778.224(b) include sums paid for occasional periods when no work is performed due to circumstances beyond the employee’s control (discussed elsewhere in the Part), reimbursable expenses (elsewhere), and — as illustrative “other similar” conveniences — parking spaces and parking benefits; the cost of providing wellness programs (health risk assessments, biometric screenings, vaccination clinics, nutrition / weight-loss / smoking-cessation / stress-reduction / exercise / coaching / financial-wellness / mental-health programs); discounts on employer-provided retail goods and services; tuition benefits (whether paid to an employee, an education provider, or a student-loan program); and adoption assistance (financial assistance, legal services, or information and referral). The clause was not intended to exclude most bonuses or the furnishing of facilities like board and lodging, which — though not tied to particular hours — are clearly compensation for services. Qualifying § 778.224 payments may not be credited toward overtime compensation due under the Act. This page does not compute regular rates — it only flags compliance red flags.
Checklist — other-similar-payment red flags
Hours- / performance-tied “similar” payments wrongly excluded from the regular rate. Flag parking stipends, wellness “bonuses,” tuition pools, or adoption “awards” stripped from the regular-rate numerator when eligibility or amount depends on hours worked, production, efficiency, attendance points, sales quotas, or other quality/quantity criteria. A GL name “OTHER SIMILAR / 778.224” is not the residual § 7(e)(2) clause.
True § 778.224 convenience payments stuffed into the regular-rate numerator. Flag worksheets that fold qualifying parking benefits, employer-paid wellness program costs, tuition benefits, adoption assistance, or bona fide employer retail discounts into the FLSA regular rate when the payment actually meets § 778.224’s “not compensation for hours of employment” test. A blanket “everything goes into RR” macro does not cure a qualifying residual § 7(e)(2) exclusion.
§ 778.224 payments wrongly credited toward statutory overtime due. Flag settlement sheets that apply parking / wellness / tuition / adoption dollars as a credit against FLSA overtime premiums owed for hours actually worked over 40. Exclusion from the regular rate and non-creditability toward OT track together under the § 7(e)(2) family — using the payment as an OT offset underpays.
Board / lodging / facilities myths and ordinary-bonus rebrands. Flag claims that free meals, employer lodging, company cars as wage facilities, or “similar convenience” labels convert board-and-lodging value or ordinary bonuses into a § 778.224 exclusion. Under § 778.224(a), most bonuses and the furnishing of facilities like board and lodging are compensation for services — not residual “other similar payments.”
Collapse with § 778.217 expense reimbursement. Flag travel, tools, uniform, cell-phone, or credentialing reimbursements coded as “other similar” (or the reverse) without running either test. § 778.217 is the expense prong of § 7(e)(2); § 778.224 is the residual convenience / similar-payment path. Over-sized per diems and personal commuting “reimbursements” are expense-doctrine problems, not automatic § 778.224 wins.
Collapse with § 778.215 benefit-plan contributions. Flag health / retirement / welfare plan contributions, cash-in-lieu of benefits, or ad hoc “wellness plan” GL codes forced into § 778.224 (or the reverse) without running the bona fide plan gates of § 778.215. Wellness program costs listed in § 778.224(b) are not a shortcut around employer contribution / plan-communication rules when the dollars are really plan contributions or wage substitutes.
Collapse with § 778.212 gifts / § 778.211 discretionary / § 778.209 nondiscretionary bonuses. Flag holiday “tuition gifts,” anniversary “parking awards,” expected wellness stipends, or manager-discretion pools coded to force a § 778.224 exclusion (or the reverse) without running gift / discretionary / nondiscretionary tests. Convenience character (§ 778.224) and bonus / gift character are easy to conflate on a year-end stub.
Cash-in-lieu, wage-substitute, and taxable-stipend rebrands. Flag cash paid in lieu of parking / wellness / tuition / adoption access, “flex convenience” allowances that function as extra wages, and taxable stipends labeled “other similar” while employees keep unrestricted cash without any underlying convenience program. Substance controls — unrestricted wage substitutes belong in the regular-rate analysis even if the GL cites § 778.224.
Eligibility / geographic / job-position myths stretched past the regulation. Flag policies that claim any waiting period, any geographic limit, or any job-code gate automatically proves a § 778.224 exclusion while the payment amount still scales with overtime hours, production, or sales. Reasonable eligibility conditions may be consistent with “not compensation for hours,” but they do not sanitize quality/quantity-tied formulas.
Stub coding and record gaps on convenience vs expense vs plan vs gift vs bonus vs RR splits. Flag wage statements that never separate qualifying § 778.224 parking / wellness / tuition / adoption / retail-discount payments from base wages, expense reimbursements, benefit-plan contributions, gifts, discretionary / nondiscretionary bonuses, or true OT; missing program descriptions; destroyed eligibility policies; and regular-rate worksheets that strip every “PARKING / WELLNESS / TUITION / ADOPTION / DISCOUNT” code without a § 778.224 analysis. Record gaps turn every convenience payment into a he-said / she-said § 7(e)(2) dispute.
Educational checklist only — not legal advice and not an other-similar-payments / regular-rate calculator. Last updated 2026-09-08. Home · Cheat sheet · Talent fees · Expense · StatutePay