I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5656 
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide compensatory 
time for employees in the private sector. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 17, 2020 
Mrs. ROBY (for herself, Ms. FOXX of North Carolina, Mr. DAVID P. ROE of 
Tennessee, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. BYRNE, 
Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. WALKER, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. JOHNSON 
of South Dakota, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, Mrs. 
RODGERS of Washington, and Ms. STEFANIK) 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Working Families 
Flexibility Act of 2020’’. 
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SEC. 2. COMPENSATORY TIME. 
Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 
(29 U.S.C. 207) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(s) COMPENSATORY TIME OFF FOR PRIVATE EM-
PLOYEES.— 
‘‘(1) GENERAL RULE.—An employee may re-
ceive, in accordance with this subsection and in lieu 
of monetary overtime compensation, compensatory 
time off at a rate not less than one and one-half 
hours for each hour of employment for which over-
time compensation is required by this section. 
‘‘(2) CONDITIONS.—An employer may provide 
compensatory time to employees under paragraph 
(1) only if such time is provided in accordance 
with— 
‘‘(A) applicable provisions of a collective 
bargaining agreement between the employer 
and the labor organization that has been cer-
tified or recognized as the representative of the 
employees under applicable law; or 
‘‘(B) in the case of an employee who is not 
represented by a labor organization that has 
been certified or recognized as the representa-
tive of such employee under applicable law, an 
agreement arrived at between the employer and 
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employee before the performance of the work 
and affirmed by a written or otherwise verifi-
able record maintained in accordance with sec-
tion 11(c)— 
‘‘(i) in which the employer has offered 
and the employee has chosen to receive 
compensatory time in lieu of monetary 
overtime compensation; and 
‘‘(ii) entered into knowingly and vol-
untarily by such employee and not as a 
condition of employment. 
No employee may receive or agree to receive com-
pensatory time off under this subsection unless the 
employee has worked at least 1,000 hours for the 
employee’s employer during a period of continuous 
employment with the employer in the 12-month pe-
riod before the date of agreement or receipt of com-
pensatory time off. 
‘‘(3) HOUR LIMIT.— 
‘‘(A) MAXIMUM
HOURS.—An employee 
may accrue not more than 160 hours of com-
pensatory time. 
‘‘(B) COMPENSATION
DATE.—Not later 
than January 31 of each calendar year, the em-
ployee’s employer shall provide monetary com-
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pensation for any unused compensatory time off 
accrued during the preceding calendar year that 
was not used prior to December 31 of the pre-
ceding year at the rate prescribed by paragraph 
(6). An employer may designate and commu-
nicate to the employer’s employees a 12-month 
period other than the calendar year, in which 
case such compensation shall be provided not 
later than 31 days after the end of such 12- 
month period. 
‘‘(C) EXCESS
OF
HOURS.—The em-
ployer may provide monetary compensation for 
an employee’s unused compensatory time in ex-
cess of 80 hours at any time after giving the 
employee at least 30 days notice. Such com-
pensation shall be provided at the rate pre-
scribed by paragraph (6). 
‘‘(D) POLICY.—Except where a collective 
bargaining agreement provides otherwise, an 
employer that has adopted a policy offering 
compensatory time to employees may dis-
continue such policy upon giving employees 30 
days notice. 
‘‘(E) WRITTEN
REQUEST.—An employee 
may withdraw an agreement described in para-
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graph (2)(B) at any time. An employee may 
also request in writing that monetary com-
pensation be provided, at any time, for all com-
pensatory time accrued that has not yet been 
used. Within 30 days of receiving the written 
request, the employer shall provide the em-
ployee the monetary compensation due in ac-
cordance with paragraph (6). 
‘‘(4) PRIVATE
EMPLOYER
ACTIONS.—An em-
ployer that provides compensatory time under para-
graph (1) to an employee shall not directly or indi-
rectly intimidate, threaten, or coerce or attempt to 
intimidate, threaten, or coerce any employee for the 
purpose of— 
‘‘(A) interfering with such employee’s 
rights under this subsection to request or not 
request compensatory time off in lieu of pay-
ment of monetary overtime compensation for 
overtime hours; or 
‘‘(B) requiring any employee to use such 
compensatory time. 
‘‘(5) TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT.—An em-
ployee who has accrued compensatory time off au-
thorized to be provided under paragraph (1) shall, 
upon the voluntary or involuntary termination of 
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