I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1
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 7, 1997
Mr. BALLENGER (for himself, Mr. GOODLING, Mrs. MYRICK, Ms. DUNN, Ms.
MOLINARI, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. STENHOLM, Ms. PRYCE of
Ohio, Mr. DOOLEY of California, Mr. UPTON, Mrs. FOWLER, Mr. FOX
of Pennsylvania, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. PETRI, Mr. FA-
WELL, Mr. RIGGS, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. BURR of
North Carolina, Mr. HERGER, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. MCKEON,
Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr.
HAYWORTH, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. COBURN, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr.
EHLERS, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. GOSS, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr.
MCINTOSH, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. NEY, Mr. BUNNING, Mr. BOEHNER,
and Mr. SMITH of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred 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.
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 1997’’.
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:
‘‘(r) COMPENSATORY TIME OFF FOR PRIVATE EM-
PLOYEES.—
‘‘(1) GENERAL RULE.—
‘‘(A) COMPENSATORY TIME OFF.—An em-
ployee may receive, in accordance with this sub-
section and in lieu of monetary overtime com-
pensation, compensatory time off at a rate not
less than one and one-half hours for each hour
of employment for which overtime compensation
is required by this section.
‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this
subsection, the term ‘employee’ does not include
an employee of a public agency.
‘‘(2) CONDITIONS.—An employer may provide
compensatory time to employees under paragraph
(1)(A) only pursuant to the following:
‘‘(A)(i) Such time may be provided only in
accordance with—
‘‘(I) applicable provisions of a collec-
tive bargaining agreement between the em-
ployer and the representative of the em-
ployees recognized as provided in section
9(a) of the National Labor Relations Act,
or
‘‘(II) in the case of employees who are
not represented by a labor organization
recognized as provided in section 9(a) of
the National Labor Relations Act, an
agreement or understanding arrived at be-
tween the employer and employee before
the performance of the work if such agree-
ment or understanding was entered into
knowingly and voluntarily by such em-
ployee, but only if such agreement or un-
derstanding was not a condition of employ-
ment.
‘‘(B) If such employee has affirmed, in a
written or otherwise verifiable statement that is
made, kept, and preserved in accordance with
section 11(c), that the employee has chosen to
receive compensatory time in lieu of overtime
compensation.
‘‘(C) If the employee has not accrued com-
pensatory time in excess of the limit applicable
to the employee prescribed by paragraph (3).
‘‘(3) HOUR LIMIT.—
‘‘(A) MAXIMUM
HOURS.—An employee
may accrue not more than 240 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-
pensation for any unused compensatory time off
accrued during the preceding calendar year
which was not used prior to December 31 of the
preceding year at the rate prescribed by para-
graph (6). An employer may designate and
communicate 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.—An employer which has
adopted a policy offering compensatory time to
employees may discontinue such policy upon
giving employees 30 days notice.
‘‘(E) WRITTEN
REQUEST.—An employee
may withdraw an agreement or understanding
described in paragraph (2)(A)(II) at any time.
An employee may also request in writing that
monetary compensation be provided, at any
time, for all compensatory time accrued which
has not yet been used. Within 30 days of receiv-
ing the written request, the employer shall pro-
vide the employee the monetary compensation
due in accordance with paragraph (6).
‘‘(4) PRIVATE
EMPLOYER
ACTIONS.—An em-
ployer which provides compensatory time under
paragraph (1) to employees 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 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
employment, be paid for the unused compensatory
time in accordance with paragraph (6).
‘‘(6) RATE OF COMPENSATION.—
‘‘(A) GENERAL RULE.—If compensation is
to be paid to an employee for accrued compen-
satory time off, such compensation shall be paid
at a rate of compensation not less than—
‘‘(i) the regular rate received by such
employee when the compensatory time was
earned, or
‘‘(ii) the final regular rate received by
such employee,
whichever is higher.
‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION OF PAYMENT.—Any
payment owed to an employee under this sub-
section for unused compensatory time shall be
considered unpaid overtime compensation.
‘‘(7) USE OF TIME.—An employee—
‘‘(A) who has accrued compensatory time
off authorized to be provided under paragraph
(1), and
‘‘(B) who has requested the use of such
compensatory time,
shall be permitted by the employee’s employer to use
such time within a reasonable period after making
the request if the use of the compensatory time does
not unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.’’
‘‘(8) DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘overtime com-
pensation’ and ‘compensatory time’ shall have the
meanings given such terms by subsection (o)(7).’’.
SEC. 3. REMEDIES.
Section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
(29 U.S.C. 216) is amended—
(1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘(b) Any em-
ployer’’ and inserting ‘‘(b) Except as provided in
subsection (f), any employer’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(f) An employer which violates section 7(r)(3) shall
be liable to the employee affected in the amount of the
rate of compensation (determined in accordance with sec-
tion 7(r)(6)(A)) for each hour of compensatory time ac-
crued by the employee and in an additional equal amount
as liquidated damages reduced by the amount of such rate
of compensation for each hour of compensatory time used
by such employee.’’.
SEC. 4. NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES.
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall revise the
materials the Secretary provides, under regulations pub-
lished at 29 C.F.R. 516.4, to employers for purposes of
a notice explaining the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
to employees so that such notice reflects the amendments
made to such Act by this Act.
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