29 CFR § 785.6 - Definition of “employ” and partial definition of “hours worked”.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t29/s785.6"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "29 CFR § 785.6 - Definition of “employ” and partial definition of “hours worked”."
title_number: 29
title_name: "Labor"
section_number: "785.6"
section_name: "Definition of “employ” and partial definition of “hours worked”."
chapter_name: "WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "STATEMENTS OF GENERAL POLICY OR INTERPRETATION NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO REGULATIONS"
part_number: "785"
part_name: "HOURS WORKED"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "52 Stat. 1060; 29 U.S.C. 201-219; 29 U.S.C. 254. Pub. L. 104-188, 100 Stat. 1755."
regulatory_source: "26 FR 190, Jan. 11, 1961, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "785"
---


# 785.6 Definition of “employ” and partial definition of “hours worked”.

By statutory definition the term “employ” includes (section 3(g)) “to suffer or permit to work.” The act, however, contains no definition of “work”. Section 3(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act contains a partial definition of “hours worked” in the form of a limited exception for clothes-changing and wash-up time.