Senator Mike Lee introduces The “Working Family Flexibility Act”

WASHINGTON – 10/31/13, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced a bill to help workers handle the constant challenge of work-life balance by allowing all individuals who work overtime to choose between monetary compensation or comp-time. The “Working Family Flexibility Act” would free workers to choose the best way to alleviate the difficulties of juggling work, home, kids, and community. Sen. Lee’s bill is a companion to legislation first introduced by Rep. Martha Roby (AL) in the House.

“For many families, especially with young children, their most precious commodity is time,” said Sen. Lee. “But today, federal labor laws restrict the way moms and dads and everyone else can use their time. For decades, Congress has given a special exemption from these laws to government employees. This is unacceptable. The same work-life options available to government employees should be available to private-sector workers, as well.”

“I am excited about the Working Families Flexibility Act gaining traction in the Senate, and I appreciate Sen. Mike Lee stepping forward to introduce a companion bill,” said Rep. Roby. “Talk to any working mom and dad and they’ll tell you they need more time – just one more hour in the day to make life work. We can’t legislate another hour in the day, but we can help working people better balance the demands of family and work by removing an unnecessary federal restriction on utilizing comp time in the private sector.”

Rep. Roby’s “Working Families Flexibility Act”, H.R. 1406, passed the House of Representatives in May. Sen. Lee’s bill is cosponsored by Sens. Coburn, Cruz, Hatch, Johnson, Paul, Risch, Roberts, and Rubio.

More Information:

How It Works

Gives employers the ability to offer their employees the option of comp time or overtime pay, both accrued at 1½ times the overtime hours worked.
Requires employers who decide to offer this option to their employees to establish a written agreement with the employee outlining the options and to allow each employee to voluntarily choose the option that best fits his needs.
Requires that comp time agreements be included in the collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the union and the employer for any employee represented by a union.
Allows employees who choose to accrue comp time to accrue up to 160 hours each year.
Allows employees to “cash out” their accrued comp time at the traditional overtime pay rate at any time throughout the year.
Maintains all existing employee protections, including the current 40-hour workweek and overtime accrual, and provides additional safeguards to ensure that the choice to use comp time is voluntary.
Requires employers to pay employees at the traditional overtime rate for any unused comp time at the end of each calendar year.

What It Does

Ends the unfair discrimination against private-sector employees
Enables parents to better balance work and family obligations
Frees all workers to choose which commodity – time or money – is the more important resource at a given time
Lessens the burden of unnecessary federal regulation.

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) Washington, D.C. 316 Hart Senate Office Building. Washington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-5444 Fax: 202-228-1168

Marco Rubio, Trey Radel, Delay Until Fully Functional Act

Sen. Rubio, Rep. Radel Introduce Legislation to Delay ObamaCare Mandate Until Websites are Fully Functional

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representative Trey Radel (R-FL) today introduced the “Delay Until Fully Functional Act,” a bill delaying the individual mandate under ObamaCare until six months after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) certifies that the exchange website is fully functional.

The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), James Inhofe (R-OK), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Thad Cochran (R-MS), John Boozman (R-AR) and Mike Johanns (R-NE).

“It is unacceptable that Americans will soon be forced to pay a fine for not purchasing insurance when the very websites they are supposed to use for purchasing it have been rendered useless from numerous glitches and technical errors,” said Rubio. “Americans already have too many financial burdens for Washington to go adding another useless and unjust tax, especially when that tax punishes the American people for the government’s own errors. I believe ObamaCare must eventually be entirely repealed and replaced, but until that becomes possible we must continue to focus on protecting Americans from the law’s ongoing problems.”

“The President has given big business and corporations an exemption from his signature law, it only seems fair to give you and your family a break from the fine as well,” said Radel. “The Rubio-Radel bill ensures the ObamaCare fine will be delayed until the Administration can show Healthcare.gov and all other sign up options are fully functional.”

The “Delay Until Fully Functional Act” would delay the ObamaCare individual mandate and require that GAO study and report to Congress on the websites within 30 days. If the GAO study says the American Health Benefit Exchange is not fully functional and operating in a manner consistent with the role envisioned for exchanges under this act, GAO will do subsequent studies and reports every 60 days until the Comptroller General determines that the exchanges are fully functional. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general would then issue a certification based on the results of the GAO report. The individual mandate would be reinstated 6 months after the HHS inspector general certification.

The legislation has been endorsed by FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform and the National Taxpayers Union.

The full text of the Senate bill is available here. Legislation to Delay ObamaCare Mandate Until Websites are Fully Functional

Senator Marco Rubio 284 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC, 20510 Phone: 202-224-3041. Representative Trey Radel WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE 1123 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 P: (202) 225-2536.