Cass Ballenger: “As the percentage of employees who must balance work and family or personal interests grows rapidly, employers face…”

“As the percentage of employees who must balance work and family or personal interests grows rapidly, employers face obstacles in Federal law which prohibit them from providing flexible scheduling arrangements to their employees. The Working Families Flexibility Act gives employers the ability to offer their employees the option of receiving paid compensatory time off in lieu of overtime wages. Since 1985, the public sector has had the ability under the Fair Labor Standards Act to use so-called comp time in lieu of overtime pay. H.R. 2391 extends this option to the private sector, with some adjustments, taking into account the inherent differences between the public and private sectors. Comp time could only be provided at the request of an employee. An employee could, under an agreement with the employer, voluntarily choose to have time-and-one-half comp time over cash wages. If that same employee later decides that cash wages would be preferable to time off, then the employee could simply request to be compensated in wages. Nothing in the bill precludes employees from changing their minds. An employee could also request, at any time, to be paid cash wages for any accrued comp time. It is time that the private sector is given the same flexibility which the public sector had had for some time. Support the Working Families Flexibility Act--to provide employees with options and greater control in balancing work and family responsibilities.”