The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill that would allow private-sector employees to exchange overtime pay for “compensatory time” off, electing to accrue extra hours off rather than extra pay in their wallets.
The Washington Post reports the bill—which Republicans have promoted since the Newt Gingrich era—passed 229 to 197, largely along party lines. Supporters say the bill would add flexibility to hourly workers’ schedules, while opponents worry it doesn’t do enough to protect employees.
The bill includes language that bans employers from “directly or indirectly intimidating, threatening, or coercing or attempting to intimidate, threaten, or coerce an employee” to choose comp time over pay. But many Democrats and worker advocates say they’re concerned people will feel pressure to opt for the comp time and may not have the resources to seek legal help if they are coerced.
The bill is not a new idea. It seeks to take a similar provision that has been available to government workers since 1985 and extend it to private-sector employees, making it legal for them to choose between an hour and a half of paid comp time and time-and-a-half pay when they work additional hours.
Similar bills have been introduced multiple times over the past two decades, passing the House three times before failing to pass the Senate. While its fate is unclear in the Senate this year, the White House said on Tuesday that it supports the bill, saying in a statement it would “help American workers balance the competing demands of family and work by giving them flexibility to earn paid time off.”
The bill now faces the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, hasn’t shared his plans on the issue, according to Bloomberg. In 2013, however, he did support a version of a similar bill.
