[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 46 (Thursday, April 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3313-S3314]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE FAMILY FRIENDLY WORKPLACE ACT OF 1997

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the Family 
Friendly Workplace Act of 1997.
  Mr. President, Senator John Ashcroft of Missouri is the key sponsor 
of this legislation. It is the Ashcroft-Hutchison legislation that I 
think is so important for the working people of our country. Senator 
Ashcroft talked about it earlier this morning.
  I am pleased to be able to talk about this incredible opportunity we 
have to bring hourly workers under the same laws that salaried, or 
exempt workers now have, and that all Federal employees now have.
  Mr. President, every hourly Federal employee today is given the 
benefit of flexible work scheduling--a benefit which is unavailable to 
their private sector counterparts. Federal hourly employees can today 
go to their manager and say, ``I would like to work 2 extra hours this 
week and get off at 3 o'clock next Friday to go to my child's soccer 
game,'' or to take off early on a camping trip, or for whatever reason 
they choose.
  Right now the hourly workers of America are not able to do this 
because of the inflexibility of the Fair Labor Standards Act. This is 
unfortunate, because hourly workers, those who punch a time clock, are 
the most stressed of all American workers. They, more than

[[Page S3314]]

any other sector of our workforce, would benefit from flexible work 
schedules. So the Family Friendly Workplace Act of 1997 is meant to 
give our hourly blue-collar workers the same opportunities that 
salaried workers and all Federal employees now have.
  So what we are trying to do, Mr. President, is to end the inequity in 
labor laws in this country that artificially place barriers around 
hourly employees and deny them the freedom to sit down with their 
employers and work out a flexible schedule that best meets their 
personal, family, and community needs, in order to relieve some of the 
stress in their lives caused by time pressures.
  Here is what the bill does. Where an employer requires an employee to 
work overtime, the bill would give that employee the option of choosing 
paid time and a half off in lieu of time-and-a-half pay. Now, if the 
employee says ``No, I want the time-and-a-half pay,'' they are 
absolutely entitled to the time-and-a-half pay. But if they know that 
they are going to want some time off in the future, they would be able 
to say, ``No, I would like an hour and a half of overtime that I can 
put in a bank to use when I need it to take my child to the doctor.'' 
So this is going to give them the option to earn paid time off for 
their overtime work.
  The second thing the bill does is provide an additional option for 
those employees who do not typically work overtime, which includes over 
90 percent of the hourly wage women who work in this country. These 
employees would be allowed to voluntarily work more than 40 hours in 
one week in order to take the same amount of paid time off later on. 
This will give hourly workers, including working mothers and fathers in 
our country a better chance to plan for the future and to get the 
option to go to their employer and say, ``You know, I am working 40-
hour weeks here but what I really need is flextime. What I need is the 
ability to start putting hours aside that would allow me to take time 
off later for a child's school event or some other purpose.'' For 
example, the employee could work 9-hour days and take every other 
Friday off, with pay, as many Federal employees now do. This is called 
flextime.
  Finally, the bill will give employees and employers the option of 
establishing regular 2-week schedules to allow an employee to work 
additional hours in week one in order to work fewer hours in week two. 
Again, this time is paid, and could be taken for any reason the 
employee wishes.
  Mr. President, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both the 
mother and father work out of the home in two-thirds of the homes in 
our country. So, Mr. President, we know that mothers and fathers are 
stressed in two-thirds of the families in our country where both the 
mother and the father work outside the home.
  This has come about because many women would like to work outside the 
home. That is their choice. It has come about because many women need 
to work outside the home in order to help pay the bills. In many 
instances the mother is working just to pay taxes. Now, we are trying 
to do something about that. We are trying to lower the tax burden on 
the American family because we think working people should keep more of 
what they work so hard to earn. Until we are able to do that, to give 
mothers the choices they want--whether it is to work outside the home 
or not--we want to give the working mothers of this country every 
possibility to spend the time with their children that they need.
  A key element of our approach is that the time off employees would 
receive is paid time off. This is in contrast to other proposals, 
including an expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act that the 
President and some others have advocated. They want to give American 
workers time off, but unpaid time off. Comptime and flextime are paid, 
because they have been earned by the workers themselves, not handed 
down from Washington as another unfunded mandate on employers and 
employees. We want people to be able to have flexible work schedules, 
without busting their budget.
  So, Mr. President, we are trying to expand the options of the hourly 
workers in our country. That is the key point of this bill. We are not 
trying to let employers in any way tell an employee or pressure an 
employee to take comptime instead of comp pay. In fact, there are very 
stiff penalties if the employer tries to do this. We want the employee 
to have the option, in cooperation with the employer. We want the 
employee to be able to say, ``It is the stress in my life that I need 
relief from, without busting my budget.'' That is what we want the 
employee to be able to say to the employer--``I am stressed. I want to 
be able to take 2 hours or 20 hours off next week, in exchange for 
working a little later this week, so that I can spend more time with my 
children.''
  All the polls show, Mr. President, if an employee feels comfortable 
that he or she has the time with his or her children, that employee is 
a happier, more productive employee, and it is a win-win situation for 
both employer and employee. In fact, upward of 75 percent of Federal 
employees say that they like comptime and flextime, and that it has 
improved their morale and performance as employees.
  Mr. President, Congress cannot make more hours in the day. There are 
just 24, and there will always be just 24. But we can make those hours 
more productive and we can make lives less stressful if we give the 
hourly employees in our country the same opportunities that salaried 
workers have, that Federal employees have, that they say means a lot to 
them.
  So we want these options to be available to the hourly workers as 
well. This is our goal. The Family Friendly Workplace Act that is 
sponsored by Senator Ashcroft and myself is for the families of our 
country, it is for the blue-collar workers, the hourly employees that 
are working so hard, that need the stress relief more than any of us, 
that do not now have it, and we think they should. That is what we are 
working for.
  I hope we will be able to take this bill to the floor very quickly. 
It has passed through the committee. It is a good bill. I think we can 
work together in a bipartisan way if the other side will work with us.
  Until we in Congress can get around to giving American families the 
tax and regulatory relief they deserve, the least we can do is allow 
them a little more flexibility in their work week. America's hourly 
workers want and deserve to choose the hours they work so they can take 
their children to the doctor, to the soccer game, to the Little League 
baseball game, or to the camping trip, or whatever they would like to 
do with their own time. We think it should be their choice.
  Thank you, and I urge my colleagues to join Senator Ashcroft and 
myself in supporting this most important legislation.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Roberts). Without objection, it is so 
ordered. The Senator from North Dakota is recognized.
  (The remarks of Mr. Conrad pertaining to the introduction of S. 605 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair and yield the floor. I suggest the 
absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may 
proceed in morning business for a period up to 7 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SPECTER. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Specter pertaining to the introduction of S. 603 
and S. 604 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on 
Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

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