WASHINGTON — Edward C. Sullivan, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department – AFL-CIO, is leading a charge to defeat H.R. 1119, the Family Time Flexibility Act, also known as the “Comp Time” Bill.

“The 15 affiliated unions of the building trades recognize that this anti-worker legislation is just one more piece of the Republican anti-worker House leadership’s orchestrated effort to further enrich big business at the expense of working families,” said Sullivan. “Clearly, taking money out of hardworking Americans’ pockets by gutting federal overtime law creates neither time nor flexibility for families.”

Currently, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay workers time-and-a-half for hours worked in excess of 40 per week.

According to Building and Construction Trades Department – AFL-CIO, in exchange for a promise of compensatory time off in the future, H.R. 1119 would amend the FLSA to allow employers to pay workers nothing for overtime work.

The Building and Construction Trades Department believes that the bill would be detrimental to construction workers due to the seasonal nature of construction work, noting that building trades workers depend on overtime pay when work is plentiful to make up for lost pay when construction is slow.

Publication date: 06/16/2003