Zoe Lofgren: “the issue of comptime and flexible work schedules is extremely important among the workers and employers in my district…”

“the issue of comptime and flexible work schedules is extremely important among the workers and employers in my district, and I believe most Silicon Valley workplaces would benefit from changes in current requirements. Therefore, I would very much like to support legislation that would provide flexibility to employees and businesses, while protecting workers everywhere. Unfortunately, H.R. 1 falls short of these objectives. If we were certain that all employers in America would never try to be unfair to employees, then H.R. 1 would probably be a sound proposal. However, in that case, most of our labor laws would be unnecessary. Unfortunately, history has shown us that Federal labor protections such as the minimum wage, fair labor standards, workplace safety, and family and medical leave are necessary to protect many American workers. While H.R. 1 might benefit both employees and employers in many work settings, it fails to protect many unrepresented, private sector workers in our country who are concerned about their job security, and are wary of taking actions against their employer to defend their rights. Amendments were offered in committee to improve worker protections, but unfortunately these were all defeated on party line votes. The Democratic substitute offered by Congressman Miller includes specific provisions to ensure that comptime is voluntary, uniformly available, and more flexible for employees, and I support the Miller substitute.”