In March, the House of Representatives passed "the Working Families Flexibility Act," which would enable employers to substitute "comp time" for overtime pay. Under the bill, employers would be permitted to offer employees who worked more than 40 hours a week the option of foregoing the time-and-a-half pay required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and to earn comp time instead. Later, they could take off one and a half hours for each hour of overtime they worked. A similar but more far-reaching bill is pending in the Senate.
Supporters of the bill, largely the Republican majority, say it will give employees enhanced flexibility in arranging their work and family time.
Opponents disagree. The bill "is about more flexibility for employers -- not for employees," says John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO. "Employers will be able to discriminate against employees who want overtime pay and employers would control when employees could use comp time."
"Family Friend or Foe," a March report by the Economic Policy Institute written by economist Lonnie Golden, buttresses Sweeney's claim. The comp time proposal owuld lower the cost of overtime to employers, because they would pay workers later, Golden argues. Costs to employers would also be lowered if earned comp time was not redeemed, though the House bill contains provisions requiring employers to pay wages for unredeemed time. With the cost of overtime diminished, Golden writes, employers may schedule longer work weeks while pressuring employees to accept comp time rather than overtime pay.
Employees' flexibility in choosing when to redeem comp time may be limited as well. "To keep workers from cashing out, employers could simply shut down operations near year's end or during slow times and deduct hours from employee comp time accounts," Golden writes. Employers might also "deduct from comp time account hours that were previously taken off informally."
Efforts to enhance employee worktime flexibility should not tamper with overtime time-and-a-half pay penalty, Golden concludes, but should instead emphasize strengthening the Family and Medical Leave Act, flex-time, shift arrangements and shortening the standard work week.
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Tell them that: Efforts to enhance employee worktime flexibility should not tamper with the overtime time-and-a-half pay penalty, but should instead emphasize:
Urge them to vote against any comp time arrangements as hurtful to the American worker.
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