Bend the Rules
Are overtime laws too rigid? congress is looking at ways to increase their flexibility.
It's high time for overtime reform-or at least that's
the view of many small-business groups that are optimistic that
this new Congress, with its Republican-controlled Senate, will pass
changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). At the top of the
list is modernizing the overtime provision of the 1938 law, which
dictates that hourly workers be paid time-and-a-half beyond a
40-hour week.
Groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce want to give businesses
and workers more flexibility by allowing employees to take time off
in lieu of overtime pay. The logic is that, for example, parents
might prefer extra time off to spend with children, either
participating at school or staying home during a sickness, rather
than extra pay. However, opponents of comp time, led by labor
unions, argue employers would use comp time flexibility to force
employees to take extra time off as a means of achieving payroll
savings.
Comp time bills have passed the House in previous years but have
foundered in the Senate. That's less likely to happen now that
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) is chair of the Senate Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The "Workplace
Flexibility Act" would allow employees the option of taking
time off in lieu of overtime pay and give them the option of
"flexing" their schedules over a two-week period.
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A second, narrower FLSA overtime reform bill will come out of
the House. Rep. Patrick Tiberi's (R-OH) Sales Incentive
Compensation Act exempts from FLSA overtime provisions for certain
"inside sales" employees. Tiberi's bill passed a
House subcommittee in the last Congress by a vote of 8-6.
Stephen Barlas is a freelance business reporter who covers
the Washington beat for 15 magazines.