Press Releases

Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) today spoke about the Working Families Flexibility Act (H.R. 1180) in an Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing

The Working Families Flexibility Act is a straightforward bill that allows private-sector employers to give hourly workers the option of either monetary compensation or additional paid time off for any overtime hours worked. Grothman is a co-sponsor of the bill.

Excerpts of Grothman’s remarks:

“I recently ran into an employer who, to his surprise, […] his employees preferred getting another three to four hours off rather than a cash bonus. Don’t you feel it’s a little philosophically wrong to tell that woman or man that you don’t have a choice in the matter – if you accumulate overtime, you have to take the money? […] Don’t you feel it’s wrong to put yourself in the position of the employee and tell them they have to value money more?

“What we’re doing here is creating flexibility. What it does is it forces employers to give employees an option, and I think a lot of employees value that time off. They value that family time, and you’re creating a situation here in some cases where employees are forbidden from having that time and have to take the cash […] Is it up to us to weigh in and say that you can’t value your family more than additional cash?

“It seems to me that rather than having us in Washington tell them what’s best for them, wouldn’t it be better to allow the employee to determine what is in their own best interest and best interest of their family? […] For those of us who don’t think that the most important thing in life is how much money you’re making, why don’t you allow them that option if the employer won’t.”

Click here to view Congressman Grothman’s full remarks (beginning at the 1:56:50 mark).

###

U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman is serving his second term representing Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.