[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3159 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3159

  To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to clarify provisions 
  relating to the use of accrued compensatory time by certain public 
                               employees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            October 4 (legislative day, September 22), 2000

 Mr. Ashcroft introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to clarify provisions 
  relating to the use of accrued compensatory time by certain public 
                               employees.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. AMENDMENT TO THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (5) of section 7(o) of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 207(o)(5)) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(5)(A) An employee of a public agency which is a State, political 
subdivision of a State, or an interstate governmental agency--
            ``(i) who has accrued compensatory time off authorized to 
        be provided under paragraph (1), and
            ``(ii) who has requested the use of such compensatory time,
shall be permitted by the employee's employer to use such time within a 
reasonable period after making the request if the use of the 
compensatory time does not unduly disrupt the operations of the public 
agency.
    ``(B)(i) An employer to which subparagraph (A) applies may not 
compel an employee to use accrued compensatory time absent a request 
from such employee for the use of such time.
    ``(ii)(I) Not later than January 31 of each calendar year, an 
employer to which subparagraph (A) applies shall provide monetary 
compensation for any unused compensatory time off accrued by an 
employee during the preceding calendar year that was not used prior to 
December 31 of the preceding calendar year at the rate of compensation 
prescribed by subclause (II). An employer may designate and communicate 
to the employees of the employer a 12-month period other than the 
calendar year, in which case the compensation shall be provided not 
later than 31 days after the end of the 12-month period.
    ``(II) The rate of compensation prescribed in this subclause is a 
rate that is not less than--
            ``(aa) the regular rate of compensation received by the 
        employee involved when the compensatory time off was earned; or
            ``(bb) the final regular rate of compensation received by 
        such employee;
whichever is higher.
    ``(iii) An employer to which subparagraph (A) applies shall provide 
an employee, upon the written request of the employee, with monetary 
compensation for the employee's unused compensatory time off. Such 
compensation shall be paid by the employer not later 30 days after the 
date on which the employer receives the written request for such 
monetary compensation. The compensation shall be provided at the rate 
prescribed by clause (ii)(II).
    ``(C)(i) Except as provided in clause (ii), the acceptance by an 
employee to which this paragraph applies of compensatory time off in 
lieu of monetary overtime compensation may not be a condition of 
employment.
    ``(ii) In a case in which a valid collective bargaining agreement 
exists between an employer to which subparagraph (A) applies and the 
labor organization that has been certified or recognized as the 
representative of the employees of the employer under applicable law, 
an employee may only be required under this subparagraph to receive 
compensatory time off in lieu of monetary overtime compensation in 
accordance with the agreement.
    ``(D)(i)(I) An employer to which subparagraph (A) applies shall not 
directly or indirectly intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to 
intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any employee for the purpose of--
            ``(aa) interfering with the rights of the employee under 
        this paragraph to request or not request compensatory time off 
        in lieu of payment of monetary overtime compensation for 
        overtime hours;
            ``(bb) interfering with the rights of the employee to use 
        accrued compensatory time off in accordance with this 
        paragraph; or
            ``(cc) requiring the employee to use the compensatory time 
        off.
    ``(II) In subclause (I), the term `intimidate, threaten, or coerce' 
includes promising to confer or conferring any benefit (such as 
appointment, promotion, or compensation) or effecting or threatening to 
effect any reprisal (such as deprivation of appointment, promotion, or 
compensation).
    ``(ii) An employer to which subparagraph (A) applies shall permit 
an employee to elect, for an applicable workweek--
            ``(I) the payment of monetary overtime compensation for the 
        workweek; or
            ``(II) the accrual of compensatory time off in lieu of the 
        payment of monetary overtime compensation for the workweek.''.
    (b) Remedies and Sanctions.--Section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards 
Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(f) In addition to any amount that an employer is liable under 
subsection (b) for a violation of a provision of section 7, an employer 
that violates section 7(o)(5) shall be liable to the employee affected 
in an amount equal to--
            ``(1) the product of--
                    ``(A) the rate of compensation (determined in 
                accordance with section 7(o)(5)(B)(ii)(II)); and
                    ``(B)(i) the number of hours of compensatory time 
                off involved in the violation that was initially 
                accrued by the employee; minus
                    ``(ii) the number of such hours used by the 
                employee; and
            ``(2) as liquidated damages, the product of--
                    ``(A) such rate of compensation; and
                    ``(B) the number of hours of compensatory time off 
                involved in the violation that was initially accrued by 
                the employee.''.
                                 <all>