A new proposed bill called the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2017 was filed in February of 2017. This proposed bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime mandate to allow employers to use compensatory time off in place of overtime pay. The FLSA requires employers to pay nonexempt workers overtime at the rate of 1.5 times their current wage for every hour worked over 40 hours in a work week. Private employers can not use comp time in lieu of paying overtime. Many employers face overtime lawsuits when they issue comp time instead of paying their workers overtime pay.
If this bill passes, employers could give workers to earn compensatory time off at a rate of no less than 1.5 times every hour for each hour worked over 40 hours a week. The bill contains a cap on the allowable comp time at 160 hours and requires an annual payout of any unused comp time.
