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***MEDIA ADVISORY*** Committee to Mark Up the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013

H.R. 1406 allows private-sector workers to receive ‘comp time’ to help promote work-life balance

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 12, 2013
On Wednesday, April 17 at 10:00 a.m., the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), will mark up the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013 (H.R. 1406). The markup will take place in room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 requires covered employees to receive an overtime rate of “time-and-a-half” for hours worked over 40 within a work week. The law mandates overtime compensation for private-sector workers in the form of cash wages and prohibits these workers from choosing paid time off or ‘comp time’ instead. As a result, workers are unable to accrue additional paid time off to help fulfill personal and family responsibilities, such as spending time with aging relatives or attending parent-teacher conferences.

To remove this outdated obstacle in federal law, Representative Martha Roby (R-AL) introduced the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013. The legislation would allow private-sector employers to offer employees the choice of comp time in lieu of cash wages for overtime hours worked. The bill will help more Americans balance family and work. At a legislative hearing on H.R. 1406, Karen DeLoach, a bookkeeper from Montgomery, Alabama, described the bill as a “positive step for employees in the private-sector.”

The Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013:
  • Ensures no employee can be forced or coerced into taking comp time instead of receiving overtime pay. Employees who want to receive cash wages would continue to do so.
      
  • Protects employees by requiring the employer and the employee to complete a written agreement to use comp time, entered into knowingly and voluntarily by the employee.
      
  • Retains all existing employee protections in current law, including the 40 hour work week and how overtime compensation is accrued. The bill adds additional safeguards for workers to ensure the choice and use of comp time are truly voluntary.
      
  • Allows workers to ‘cash out’ their accrued comp time whenever they choose to do so. An employer would be required to pay cash wages for any comp time that was not used by the end of a 12 month period.

To learn more about the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013, click here.

To learn more about the employee protections in H.R. 1406, click here.

To learn more about this markup, visit www.republicans-edlabor.house.gov/markups.

 

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