I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 933 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide compensatory 

time for employees in the private sector. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2009 

Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS (for herself, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. WILSON of South 

Carolina, Mr. PAUL, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. 

EHLERS, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. KIRK, Mr. JORDAN of Ohio, 

Mr. LATTA, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, and Mr. SOUDER) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 

Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide 

compensatory time for employees in the private sector. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family-Friendly Work5 place Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMPENSATORY TIME. 

2 Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 

3 (29 U.S.C. 207) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(r) COMPENSATORY TIME OFF FOR PRIVATE EM6 PLOYEES.— 

7 ‘‘(1) GENERAL RULE.— 

8 ‘‘(A) COMPENSATORY TIME OFF.—An em9 ployee may receive, in accordance with this sub10 section and in lieu of monetary overtime com11 pensation, compensatory time off at a rate not 

12 less than one and one-half hours for each hour 

13 of employment for which overtime compensation 

14 is required by this section. 

15 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this 

16 subsection, the term ‘employee’ does not include 

17 an employee of a public agency. 

18 ‘‘(2) CONDITIONS.—An employer may provide 

19 compensatory time to employees under paragraph 

20 (1)(A) only if such time is provided in accordance 

21 with— 

22 ‘‘(A) applicable provisions of a collective 

23 bargaining agreement between the employer 

24 and the labor organization which has been cer25 tified or recognized as the representative of the 

26 employees under applicable law; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) in the case of employees who are not 

2 represented by a labor organization which has 

3 been certified or recognized as the representa4 tive of such employees under applicable law, an 

5 agreement arrived at between the employer and 

6 employee before the performance of the work 

7 and affirmed by a written or otherwise 

8 verifiable record maintained in accordance with 

9 section 11(c)— 

10 ‘‘(i) in which the employer has offered 

11 and the employee has chosen to receive 

12 compensatory time in lieu of monetary 

13 overtime compensation; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) entered into knowingly and vol15 untarily by such employees and not as a 

16 condition of employment. 

17 No employee may receive or agree to receive com18 pensatory time off under this subsection unless the 

19 employee has worked at least 1000 hours for the 

20 employee’s employer during a period of continuous 

21 employment with the employer in the 12-month pe22 riod before the date of agreement or receipt of com23 pensatory time off. 

24 ‘‘(3) HOUR LIMIT.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) MAXIMUM HOURS.—An employee 

2 may accrue not more than 160 hours of com3 pensatory time. 

4 ‘‘(B) COMPENSATION DATE.—Not later 

5 than January 31 of each calendar year, the em6 ployee’s employer shall provide monetary com7 pensation for any unused compensatory time off 

8 accrued during the preceding calendar year 

9 which was not used prior to December 31 of the 

10 preceding year at the rate prescribed by para11 graph (6). An employer may designate and 

12 communicate to the employer’s employees a 12- 

13 month period other than the calendar year, in 

14 which case such compensation shall be provided 

15 not later than 31 days after the end of such 12- 

16 month period. 

17 ‘‘(C) EXCESS OF 80 HOURS.—The em18 ployer may provide monetary compensation for 

19 an employee’s unused compensatory time in ex20 cess of 80 hours at any time after giving the 

21 employee at least 30 days notice. Such com22 pensation shall be provided at the rate pre23 scribed by paragraph (6). 

24 ‘‘(D) POLICY.—Except where a collective 

25 bargaining agreement provides otherwise, an 


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1 employer which has adopted a policy offering 

2 compensatory time to employees may dis3 continue such policy upon giving employees 30 

4 days notice. 

5 ‘‘(E) WRITTEN REQUEST.—An employee 

6 may withdraw an agreement described in para7 graph (2)(B) at any time. An employee may 

8 also request in writing that monetary com9 pensation be provided, at any time, for all com10 pensatory time accrued which has not yet been 

11 used. Within 30 days of receiving the written 

12 request, the employer shall provide the em13 ployee the monetary compensation due in ac14 cordance with paragraph (6). 

15 ‘‘(4) PRIVATE EMPLOYER ACTIONS.—An em16 ployer which provides compensatory time under 

17 paragraph (1) to employees shall not directly or indi18 rectly intimidate, threaten, or coerce or attempt to 

19 intimidate, threaten, or coerce any employee for the 

20 purpose of— 

21 ‘‘(A) interfering with such employee’s 

22 rights under this subsection to request or not 

23 request compensatory time off in lieu of pay24 ment of monetary overtime compensation for 

25 overtime hours; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) requiring any employee to use such 

2 compensatory time. 

3 ‘‘(5) TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT.—An em4 ployee who has accrued compensatory time off au5 thorized to be provided under paragraph (1) shall, 

6 upon the voluntary or involuntary termination of 

7 employment, be paid for the unused compensatory 

8 time in accordance with paragraph (6). 

9 ‘‘(6) RATE OF COMPENSATION.— 

10 ‘‘(A) GENERAL RULE.—If compensation is 

11 to be paid to an employee for accrued compen12 satory time off, such compensation shall be paid 

13 at a rate of compensation not less than— 

14 ‘‘(i) the regular rate received by such 

15 employee when the compensatory time was 

16 earned; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) the final regular rate received by 

18 such employee, 

19 whichever is higher. 

20 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION OF PAYMENT.—Any 

21 payment owed to an employee under this sub22 section for unused compensatory time shall be 

23 considered unpaid overtime compensation. 

24 ‘‘(7) USE OF TIME.—An employee— 


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1 ‘‘(A) who has accrued compensatory time 

2 off authorized to be provided under paragraph 

3 (1); and 

4 ‘‘(B) who has requested the use of such 

5 compensatory time, 

6 shall be permitted by the employee’s employer to use 

7 such time within a reasonable period after making 

8 the request if the use of the compensatory time does 

9 not unduly disrupt the operations of the employer. 

10 ‘‘(8) DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘overtime com11 pensation’ and ‘compensatory time’ shall have the 

12 meanings given such terms by subsection (o)(7).’’. 

13 SEC. 3. REMEDIES. 

14 Section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 

15 (29 U.S.C. 216) is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘(b) Any em17 ployer’’ and inserting ‘‘(b) Except as provided in 

18 subsection (f), any employer’’; and 

19 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(f) An employer which violates section 7(r)(4) shall 

21 be liable to the employee affected in the amount of the 

22 rate of compensation (determined in accordance with sec23 tion 7(r)(6)(A)) for each hour of compensatory time ac24 crued by the employee and in an additional equal amount 

25 as liquidated damages reduced by the amount of such rate 


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1 of compensation for each hour of compensatory time used 

2 by such employee.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES. 

4 Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall revise the 

6 materials the Secretary provides, under regulations pub7 lished in section 516.4 of title 29, Code of Federal Regula8 tions, to employers for purposes of a notice explaining the 

9 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to employees so that 

10 such notice reflects the amendments made to such Act by 

11 this Act. 

12 SEC. 5. SUNSET. 

13 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

14 expire 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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