Obama administration opposition to a House bill allowing for the use of compensatory time off instead of overtime in the private sector has raised questions regarding the future of a program in place inside the government for many years that has many of the same features.
The House-passed bill (HR-1406) would authorize private employers to provide compensatory time off to their employees at a rate of 1 1/2 hours per hour of employment for which overtime compensation is required. The measure would prohibit an employer from intimidating, threatening, or coercing an employees to either use or not use compensatory time rather than be paid overtime.
The administration has threatened to veto the bill should it pass the Senate, however, saying the measure “does not provide sufficient protections for employees who may not want to receive compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay." It also said the bill does not protect employees from losing accrued time off under certain conditions–for example if the employer goes bankrupt.
Those statements have raised questions regarding the government’s own policies, which have similar language regarding protection against coercion and which also leave employees vulnerable to losing comp time off if not used, although only under limited circumstances.
The House bill meanwhile is more generous to employees in that it would provide for a hour and a half of time off per overtime hour worked if comp time is chosen instead. The government policy provides only for an hour-for-hour substitution.
