(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on May 2, 2017. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Working Families Flexibility Act of 2017
(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to authorize employers to provide compensatory time off to private employees at a rate of not less than 1 1/2 hours for each hour of employment for which overtime compensation is required, but only if it is in accordance with an applicable collective bargaining agreement or, in the absence of such an agreement, an agreement between the employer and employee.
The bill prohibits an employee from accruing more than 160 hours of compensatory time. An employer must provide monetary compensation for any unused compensatory time off accrued during the preceding year.
The bill requires an employer to give employees 30-day notice before discontinuing compensatory time off.
The bill prohibits an employer from intimidating, threatening, or coercing an employee in order to: (1) interfere with the employee's right to request or not to request compensatory time off in lieu of payment of monetary overtime compensation, or (2) require an employee to use such compensatory time.
(Sec. 3) The bill makes an employer who violates such requirements liable to the affected employee in the amount of the compensation rate for each hour of compensatory time accrued, plus an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, reduced for each hour of compensatory time used.
(Sec. 5) The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on: (1) the extent to which employers provide compensatory time off and employees opt to receive it; (2) the number of complaints filed by employees with the Department of Labor alleging a violation of such requirements and the number of enforcement actions commenced by Labor on behalf of aggrieved employees; (3) the disposition of such complaints and actions; and (4) any unpaid wages, damages, penalties, injunctive relief, or other remedies sought by Labor in connection with such actions.
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