Bill advances to revamp nation's overtime rules

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A House committee approved legislation that would allow some employers who now are required by law to pay workers overtime wages to instead offer paid time off.

The bill, approved 27-22 by the House Education and Workforce Committee yesterday, is the latest Republican effort to revamp overtime pay requirements in the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.

Business groups, emboldened by Republican control of Congress and the executive branch, have stepped up lobbying for revisions to the law, which requires pay at 150 percent of the hourly rate for some workers logging more than 40 hours a week.

It currently is illegal for private companies to offer paid time off as an alternative to overtime pay to millions of workers covered by the law.

Republicans say the bill provides flexibility to workers who are increasingly juggling demands of career and family. But Democrats and labor unions opposing the bill say workers will lose money and work longer hours.

House leaders want a floor vote by early May.