ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602160008
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
The banking of compensatory or ``comp'' time off from work as a substitute for overtime pay is standard practice in many workplaces, even though it is a civil offense. Congress is being asked to make it legal.
A Roanoke union leader said unions don't want the law proposed by Rep. Cass Ballenger, a Republican representing the Hickory, N.C., area. They call it a weapon companies can use against workers.
But the bill has broad support among employers. A Roanoke management consultant said the bill could provide greater flexibility to set employee schedules.
The House Economic and Educational Opportunities subcommittee will debate the bill next month.
Bruce Clark, a U.S. Department of Labor official, called it a ``hidden employment practice'' for companies to grant interested employees paid time off as their overtime compensation instead of overtime pay.
By banking 11/2 hours of paid leave for every hour of overtime worked, eventually a worker could have enough paid leave to take a long weekend or minivacation without using paid-vacation leave.
``We know that goes on,'' said Clark, assistant director at the Richmond district office of the federal employment standards administration's wage and hour division.
Under current law, private employers with annual revenues of $500,000 are supposed to pay employees 11/2 times their usual hourly wage for any hour worked over 40 in a week. The 1940 law, which applies to nursing homes, hospitals and private educational institutions regardless of size, was intended to discourage employers with large work forces from scheduling employees for long shifts and instead encourage them to create more jobs.
An employer still must pay overtime wages even if an employee agrees to take comp time leave instead, Clark said.
Federal labor officials can't catch all cases of illegal comp time, Clark said, because workers seldom complain unless they ask for overtime pay and don't receive it or are otherwise coerced. Hefty fines and costs await employers found in violation.
There is a notable exception to the requirement: Employees who work more than 40 hours in one week can take paid leave before the end of their current pay period at a rate of 11/2 hours of leave for every hour of overtime worked.
Under Ballenger's bill, private company hourly employees could accumulate as many as 240 hours of comp time leave per year and then take a six-week paid vacation if they wished. Or they could use the leave in smaller increments. Employees would have to accept cash at a rate of 11/2 times normal wages for unused comp time hours at the end of the year.
Government agencies have since 1985 had the option to give their hourly employees comp time leave. The agencies are governed by overtime rules basically identical to those which the Ballenger bill would put in place for private employers.
Walter Wise, president of the United Roanoke Central Labor Council, said labor leaders generally oppose the Ballenger bill because it could be used against certain workers. If employers prefer giving comp time leave to paying overtime, the employer may favor employees who accept that method of overtime compensation and steer work away from those who won't.
Wise predicted that Democrats will tend to oppose the bill. Ballenger's chief of staff, Patrick Murphy, confirmed that is expected during the upcoming subcommittee debate.
Murphy said the bill's supporters include the Flexible Employment Compensation and Scheduling Coalition, 50 business and employer organizations including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that say they want to update the nation's dated labor laws.
Employers' interest in the bill is understandable, said Bruce M. Wood, president of The Management Association of Western Virginia, a nonprofit corporation that provides services to member employers on employee relations.
Many employers are using smaller work forces, nontraditional schedules, or both, to adapt to changing business conditions, Wood said. This transition would go smoother if they could avoid paying costly overtime wages.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 linesby CNB