[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6256]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        FLEXIBILITY FOR WORKERS

  (Mr. BERGMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. BERGMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1180, the 
Working Families Flexibility Act, introduced by my friend, the 
gentlewoman from Alabama (Mrs. Roby). The House will be considering the 
bill later this week to give private sector employees the same 
flexibility offered to many local, State, and Federal Government 
workers that have had it for many years now.
  The legislation will give employees the option of choosing to receive 
compensatory time off from their employers instead of overtime wages. 
It does not change the 40-hour workweek, and it does not weaken 
employee protections. We are simply giving American workers more 
choice.
  The bill does not allow for employees to coerce anyone into choosing 
one option over another. It would be a voluntary decision made between 
the employer and the employee. Everyone needs flexibility in their 
schedule to balance between work and personal time, and we should be 
giving American workers the option to choose what is most important to 
them: overtime wages or time off. It should be their decision, not the 
government's.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 1180, the Working 
Families Flexibility Act.

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