On April 9, the House Education and Workforce Committee approved, 27-22, legislation (H.R. 1119) that would allow private sector employees to choose paid time off as compensation for working overtime. On April 3, the legislation was approved, 8-6, by the Workforce Protections Subcommittee (see The Source, 4/4).
In 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which prohibits employers in the private sector from offering employees the choice of compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay. In 1978, Congress passed legislation allowing federal employees to arrange alternative schedules; in 1985, Congress extended flexible work options to all public sector employees, allowing them to receive compensatory time off in place of overtime pay.
H.R. 1119, sponsored by Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL), would seek to amend the FLSA, granting private sector employers the option of offering workers comp time instead of cash payments for overtime. The bill would require a written agreement between the employer and the employee, entered into voluntarily and knowingly by the employee. Comp time would be calculated at a rate of one-and-one-half hours of comp time for every hour of overtime work. Workers would be allowed to accrue up to 160 hours of comp time per year, and employers would be required to reimburse employees for unused time at the end of the year. “The law governing the private sector workforce has been frozen for more than 60 years, locked in a time when women worked in the home, most families had only one wage-earner, and nobody went to kids’ soccer games,” said Rep. Biggert. “Times have changed, families have changed, and the workplace has changed. Yet the law has not changed.”
Critics claim that offering comp time in lieu of overtime pay would undermine the 40-hour work week, and give employees less control over when they work overtime.
“Under this legislation, employers would no longer be require to pay for overtime worked at the time it is worked,” said Committee Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA). “Instead, by offering compensatory time-off at some indefinite point in the future, employers could delay paying overtime for up to a year and a month. Employees are in effect being asked to give a no-interest loan to their employer.”
The House may consider the bill in early May.
