Rob Andrews: “I rise in support of his substitute. Mr. Chairman, it occurs to me that someone listening to this debate today might be…”

“I rise in support of his substitute. Mr. Chairman, it occurs to me that someone listening to this debate today might be awfully confused when they hear virtually everyone on our side say the bill before the House puts the whip in the hands of the employer and takes the choice away from the employee and hears virtually everyone on the other side say exactly the opposite is true. Let me tell my colleagues why I feel so strongly that we are right about this argument. It has to do with the way the underlying bill that we are seeking to amend is drafted. If we have a situation where an employee who always chooses cash, or has always chosen cash in the past, is denied overtime in the future and an employee who always chooses comptime is given overtime in the future, I think it is a fair conclusion that the other employees in that workplace might get the message that if you choose cash you do not get overtime. But if you choose comptime, you do. That effectively takes the choice away from the employee and puts it in the hands of the employer.”