I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1380

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

time for employees in the private sector.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 13, 1999

Mr. BALLENGER (for himself, Mr. GOODLING, Ms. DUNN, Mrs. FOWLER, Mr.

STENHOLM, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. DOOLEY of California, Mrs. MYRICK,

Mr. SHAYS, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. CAMPBELL, Ms. GRANGER, Mrs.

NORTHUP, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mrs. CUBIN, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mrs. BONO, Mr. BOEHNER, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr.

HOEKSTRA, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. TALENT,

Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr.

HILLEARY, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. LATHAM, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr.

EHRLICH, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. BURR of North Carolina,

Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. GOODLATTE,

Mr. KOLBE, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina, Mr. COBLE,

Mr. WATKINS, Mr. RILEY, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, Mr. SPENCE, and Mr. HASTINGS of Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the

Workforce

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Working Families

3 Flexibility Act of 1999’’.

4 SEC. 2. COMPENSATORY TIME.

5 Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

6 (29 U.S.C. 207) is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing:

8 ‘‘(r) COMPENSATORY TIME OFF FOR PRIVATE EM9 PLOYEES.—

10 ‘‘(1) GENERAL RULE.—

11 ‘‘(A) COMPENSATORY TIME OFF.—An em12 ployee may receive, in accordance with this sub13 section and in lieu of monetary overtime com14 pensation, compensatory time off at a rate not

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

16 of employment for which overtime compensation

17 is required by this section.

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

19 subsection, the term ‘employee’ does not include

20 an employee of a public agency.

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

22 compensatory time to employees under paragraph

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

24 with—

25 ‘‘(A) applicable provisions of a collective

26 bargaining agreement between the employer
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1 and the labor organization which has been cer2 tified or recognized as the representative of the

3 employees under applicable law, or

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

5 represented by a labor organization which has

6 been certified or recognized as the representa7 tive of such employees under applicable law, an

8 agreement arrived at between the employer and

9 employee before the performance of the work

10 and affirmed by a written or otherwise

11 verifiable record maintained in accordance with

12 section 11(c)—

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

14 and the employee has chosen to receive

15 compensatory time in lieu of monetary

16 overtime compensation; and

17 ‘‘(ii) entered into knowingly and vol18 untarily by such employees and not as a

19 condition of employment.

20 No employee may receive or agree to receive com21 pensatory time off under this subsection unless the

22 employee has worked at least 1000 hours for the

23 employee’s employer during a period of continuous

24 employment with the employer in the 12 month pe-
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1 riod before the date of agreement or receipt of com2 pensatory time off.

3 ‘‘(3) HOUR LIMIT.—

4 ‘‘(A) MAXIMUM HOURS.—An employee

5 may accrue not more than 160 hours of com6 pensatory time.

7 ‘‘(B) COMPENSATION DATE.—Not later

8 than January 31 of each calendar year, the em9 ployee’s employer shall provide monetary com10 pensation for any unused compensatory time off

11 accrued during the preceding calendar year

12 which was not used prior to December 31 of the

13 preceding year at the rate prescribed by para14 graph (6). An employer may designate and

15 communicate to the employer’s employees a 12-

16 month period other than the calendar year, in

17 which case such compensation shall be provided

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

19 month period.

20 ‘‘(C) EXCESS OF 80 HOURS.—The em21 ployer may provide monetary compensation for

22 an employee’s unused compensatory time in ex23 cess of 80 hours at any time after giving the

24 employee at least 30 days notice. Such com-
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1 pensation shall be provided at the rate pre2 scribed by paragraph (6).

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

4 bargaining agreement provides otherwise, an

5 employer which has adopted a policy offering

6 compensatory time to employees may dis7 continue such policy upon giving employees 30

8 days notice.

9 ‘‘(E) WRITTEN REQUEST.—An employee

10 may withdraw an agreement described in para11 graph (2)(B) at any time. An employee may

12 also request in writing that monetary com13 pensation be provided, at any time, for all com14 pensatory time accrued which has not yet been

15 used. Within 30 days of receiving the written

16 request, the employer shall provide the em17 ployee the monetary compensation due in ac18 cordance with paragraph (6).

19 ‘‘(4) PRIVATE EMPLOYER ACTIONS.—An em20 ployer which provides compensatory time under

21 paragraph (1) to employees shall not directly or indi22 rectly intimidate, threaten, or coerce or attempt to

23 intimidate, threaten, or coerce any employee for the

24 purpose of—
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1 ‘‘(A) interfering with such employee’s

2 rights under this subsection to request or not

3 request compensatory time off in lieu of pay4 ment of monetary overtime compensation for

5 overtime hours; or

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

7 compensatory time.

8 ‘‘(5) TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT.—An em9 ployee who has accrued compensatory time off au10 thorized to be provided under paragraph (1) shall,

11 upon the voluntary or involuntary termination of

12 employment, be paid for the unused compensatory

13 time in accordance with paragraph (6).

14 ‘‘(6) RATE OF COMPENSATION.—

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

16 to be paid to an employee for accrued compen17 satory time off, such compensation shall be paid

18 at a rate of compensation not less than—

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

20 employee when the compensatory time was

21 earned, or

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

23 such employee,

24 whichever is higher.
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1 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION OF PAYMENT.—Any

2 payment owed to an employee under this sub3 section for unused compensatory time shall be

4 considered unpaid overtime compensation.

5 ‘‘(7) USE OF TIME.—An employee—

6 ‘‘(A) who has accrued compensatory time

7 off authorized to be provided under paragraph

8 (1), and

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

10 compensatory time,

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

12 such time within a reasonable period after making

13 the request if the use of the compensatory time does

14 not unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.

15 ‘‘(8) DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘overtime com16 pensation’ and ‘compensatory time’ shall have the

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

18 SEC. 3. REMEDIES.

19 Section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

20 (29 U.S.C. 216) is amended—

21 (1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘(b) Any em22 ployer’’ and inserting ‘‘(b) Except as provided in

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

24 (2) by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(f) An employer which violates section 7(r)(4) shall

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

3 rate of compensation (determined in accordance with sec4 tion 7(r)(6)(A)) for each hour of compensatory time ac5 crued by the employee and in an additional equal amount

6 as liquidated damages reduced by the amount of such rate

7 of compensation for each hour of compensatory time used

8 by such employee.’’.

9 SEC. 4. NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES.

10 Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact11 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall revise the

12 materials the Secretary provides, under regulations pub13 lished at 29 C.F.R. 516.4, to employers for purposes of

14 a notice explaining the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

15 to employees so that such notice reflects the amendments

16 made to such Act by this Act.

17 SEC. 5. SUNSET.

18 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall

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

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