CenterBHSFan;704668 wrote:I'm looking at it right now. Here's the quick summary:
Laws, Acts, and Legislation
- Permits some private employers to award compensatory time off in lieu of monetary overtime compensation to their employees, subject to the consent of the employee and other specified conditions.
- Prohibits private employers from: (1) interfering with the employee's rights to request or not request compensatory time off in lieu of monetary payment for overtime and (2) requiring their employees to accept compensatory time off in lieu of monetary payment for overtime.
- Establishes civil and criminal penalties for violations of the bill's provisions.
Thompson stressed that picking compensatory time over overtime would be purely voluntary for the worker. But Frederick Gittes, a Columbus lawyer and former president of the National Employment Lawyers Association, said the bill provides no consequence for an employer who retaliates against a worker who refuses to accept compensatory time.
"If there is no recourse, what employee is going to refuse a request by a small-business owner?" Gittes asked, noting that workers could not sue for back pay or reinstatement if they were fired for refusing to give up overtime.
Thompson said the bill has strong requirements and penalties to prevent employee abuse. But Gittes said those are criminal penalties, and prosecutors almost always consider these issues to be civil matters.
Overtime is paid at time-and-a-half for any hour worked in excess of 40 a week. The bill as originally drafted would have given compensatory time at that rate, but it was changed yesterday to a 1-to-1 ratio. Five hours of overtime work would mean five hours of compensatory time.
Rep. Ted Celeste, D-Grandview Heights, said the proposal should have been left at 1.5 hours of compensatory time for every hour of overtime.