House GOP pushes for law to allow comp time

Mary Orndorff Troyan, Gannett Washington Bureau | GANNETT

WASHINGTON – Employees could choose paid time off instead of overtime pay under legislation promoted by Republican leaders in the House of Representatives.

Republican have tried for years to amend federal labor law to end a requirement that overtime be paid in wages, but unions and Democrats have protested that the change would benefit employers, not employees.

This time, House Republicans are marketing the idea as a voluntary option for anyone who prefers time off over cash.

"This doesn't solve our debt or deficit problem, but this is a bill that as a working mom, I'm proud to carry and say, 'Look, we've got to provide some relief in this economy to working families,' " Republican Rep. Martha Roby of Alabama said Tuesday.

Roby plans to introduce the bill when she returns to Washington next week. The House Education and the Workforce Committee will discuss it April 11 — a speedy legislative schedule.

Democrats say they will wait to see the details, but Roby's bill must be different from previous versions to win their support.

"In the past, it just gave companies an excuse to pay workers less, and workers aren't clamoring for smaller paychecks," said Aaron Albright, spokesman for Democrats on the Education and the Workforce Committee.

Are some employees clamoring for more paid time off? Roby says yes.

"Comp time is comp time, and you can use it for whatever you want," she said. "Think about going to your child's play, not just a doctor's appointment. You don't want to take vacation time for that."

The Fair Labor and Standards Act of 1938 says hourly employees in the private sector who work more than 40 hours a week must be paid for their extra time at one-and-a-half times their regular hourly wage. Compensatory, or comp time, is an option only in the public sector, or government jobs.

Roby's bill would make it legal for a private-sector employer and an employee to agree in writing that the employee will take an hour-and-a-half of comp time for every hour of overtime worked. For those in a union, the option would be available only as allowed by the collective-bargaining agreement.

Various versions of the comp time idea have been around Congress for almost two decades. Roby said this latest version is designed to protect employees as much as possible.

She said employers could not force employees to use comp time, and employees could change their minds and cash out their accrued comp time.

Karen DeLoach, a bookkeeper at a Montgomery accounting firm, works longer hours certain times of the year and said she needs the time off more than the money.

DeLoach takes an annual church trip to Nicaragua, and she has had sick relatives in other cities to care for, but when she asked her boss about six years ago for comp time instead of money, she was turned down because it was against the law.

"My first year here, I thought I could work extra before and after (the church trip) so my compensation wouldn't have any hiccup, but he said no, because the law didn't allow it," DeLoach said Tuesday. "I worked extra when I got back, and they had to pay me overtime. I know some people might like that, but I would have rather swapped that out."

Roby's bill is part of a legislative package announced in early February by House Republican leaders, who want to focus on domestic issues after the spring recess. The inclusion of the comp time bill in the "Making Life Work" agenda means House Republicans intend to give the issue a high profile and, very likely, a floor vote.

Republicans say they want employees in the private sector to have the same comp time option as public sector employees have.

"Too many parents have to weigh whether they can afford to leave work for even half a day to perhaps attend a field trip or to go to a parent-teacher conference," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said during a speech about the legislative agenda. "This is the kind of common-sense legislation that should be noncontroversial and moves us in the right direction to help make life work for more families."

This is also a moment in the Republican limelight for Roby, a sophomore congresswoman who aspires to a leadership role in the party.

As the lead sponsor of the Working Families Flexibility Act, she'll be a spokeswoman for House Republicans on the issue over the next few weeks.