The “Working Families Flexibility Act” helps workers handle the constant challenge of work-life balance by allowing private-sector employers to offer all individuals who work overtime to choose between monetary compensation or comp-time.  Particularly for families, the law would help alleviate the difficulties of juggling work, home, kids, and community. 

 

How It Works

• Gives employers the ability to offer their employees the option of comp time or overtime pay, both accrued at 1½ times the overtime hours worked.
• Requires employers who decide to offer this option to their employees to establish a written agreement with the employee outlining the options and to allow each employee to voluntarily choose the option that best fits his needs.
• Requires that comp time agreements be included in the collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the union and the employer for any employee represented by a union.
• Allows employees who choose to accrue comp time to accrue up to 160 hours each year.
• Allows employees to “cash out” their accrued comp time at the traditional overtime pay rate at any time throughout the year.
• Maintains all existing employee protections, including the current 40-hour workweek and overtime accrual, and provides additional safeguards to ensure that the choice to use comp time is voluntary.
• Requires employers to pay employees at the traditional overtime rate for any unused comp time at the end of each calendar year.

 

What It Does

• Ends the unfair discrimination against private-sector employees
• Enables parents to better balance work and family obligations
• Frees all workers to choose which commodity – time or money – is the more important resource at a given time
• Lessens the burden of unnecessary federal regulation