ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9608010036
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
THE BILL would allow employers to offer 1.5 hours of compensatory time for every hour in excess of 40 per week an employee works.
Mike Rutherford sounds like an understanding boss. He's all for the American worker enjoying more time away from the plant or office for family and personal business, as envisioned by legislation now before Congress.
Businesses could offer all employees the option of choosing time off instead of overtime pay under a bill passed by the House.
The union-opposed bill, adopted 225-195 on Tuesday and sent to the Senate, faces a veto threat from the Clinton administration. It would allow employers to offer 1.5 hours of compensatory time for every hour in excess of 40 per week an employee works.
"At times that'd probably be of benefit to some companies, when you have customers who demand work at certain times and, at other times, you have slack times at your plant," said Mike Rutherford, human resources manager at Progress Press of Roanoke Inc. "It'd be a nice option to offer employees."
It'd be a great thing for newer workers still waiting to earn vacation or sick leave, said Kathy Martin, who runs a paper folder at the plant.
She, a 10-year employee, would also welcome such a policy. Martin, like many of the other 80 hourly workers in the printing plant, works more than 50 hours weekly, on average. "There's times I would like to be with my child," Martin said. "It would go over real well."
Legislators, chiefly Republicans, were thinking about people such as Martin when they argued that the comp time option, already enjoyed by government employees and many unionized workers, would help other time-strapped Americans juggle the competing demands of work and family.
``Comp time allows parents to actively participate in family life,'' said Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C. ``Dads could use the accrued time to make sure they're behind the dugout for that critical Little League game. Mom and dad could use the time to visit their child's school for parent-teacher conferences.''
Opponents, mostly Democrats, said without union representation or civil service rules it would be too easy for employers to pressure their workers into accepting comp time instead of money in the form of overtime pay.
Overtime accounted for 15 percent of the paycheck of the average manufacturing worker last year, according to government reports.
"This is an excuse to undermine the living standards of working families,'' said Rep. William Clay of Missouri, senior Democrat on the Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee. ``It should be called flimflam flex time.''
Under the bill, employees would be permitted to accumulate up to 30 days of comp time. Employers would be forbidden to coerce employees to accept comp time instead of money or to use the comp time when they didn't want to.
``No one in America will have to take comp time unless they choose to,'' said Rep. Steve Gunderson, R-Wis.
However, employers could require reasonable notice, which is not defined, before comp time could be used. And employers could restrict its use to times that do not ``unduly restrict'' operations.
``This is not about flextime for workers. It's about more flexibility for employers,'' said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif. ``The boss will remain the boss.''
Labor Secretary Robert Reich has said he would advise President Clinton to veto the bill if it reaches his desk.
Clinton offered his own proposal last month. It would allow workers to accumulate up to 10 days of comp time and use it whenever they need it for family or medical leave or, with two weeks notice, for any other purpose.
Republicans see their bill as an opportunity to score political points with working Americans during a week in which Democrats expect a victory in winning final congressional approval of a minimum-wage increase.
``The Democrats make a lot of noise about the rigors that befall the family when you have two income earners,'' said House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas. ``I should think ... it (comp time) would be something the unions and the champions of working men and women ... would rejoice in.''
This week's vote was largely along party lines with 211 Republicans and 14 Democrats supporting the bill and 175 Democrats, 19 Republicans and an independent opposed.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB