WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee reintroduced the Working Families Flexibility Act Thursday, a bill that would give employees more flexibility on how to use their overtime benefits.

“For many families, especially those with young children, their most precious commodity is time,” said Sen. Lee. “But today, federal labor laws restrict the way moms and dads and everyone else can use their time. For decades, Congress has given a special exemption from these laws to government employees. This is unacceptable. The same work-life options available to government employees should be available to private-sector workers, as well.”

In 1978, Congress passed the “Federal Employee Flexible and Compressed Work Schedule Act” providing Federal, State, and local governments the ability to give their employees a choice between overtime pay or paid time off for working overtime hours. This legal disparity unfairly discriminates against private-sector employees and impedes those employers who want to offer their employees this flexibility to balance work and family obligations.

The Working Families Flexibility Act fixes this disparity by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide employers with the necessary flexibility to allow their employees to choose either the traditional overtime pay or paid time off for any overtime hours worked.

The full text of the bill can be found below.

Working Families Flexibility Act by Senator Mike Lee on Scribd