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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Matter of Opinion

Flexible work schedules

Giving employers and employees the option of offering time off instead of overtime pay?

We're for it. See our edit today.

Here's an excerpt:

For many other employees with difficult family schedules, as well as for employers with work demands that may ebb and flow, flexible scheduling would be a mutually attractive alternative to overtime pay. But it isn't a possibility, thanks to outmoded federal law.

McMorris has introduced legislation to end that prohibition. Under her bill, HR 6025, employers and employees could work out an agreement about compensatory time. They wouldn't have to, but they could. The law would allow an option it now bans.

Historically, labor organizations have been skeptical of legislation like this for fear it would erode protections that federal law now guarantees to workers.

Historically, many in the stridently pro-family wing of McMorris Rodgers' party have looked down on the concept of mothers working outside the home, let alone having the law facilitate it.

History, however, belongs in the past, a point McMorris Rodgers' proposal underscores.

Time or money? Which is more important to you?



A Matter of Opinion is really a matter of three opinions – those held by the people responsible for the opinion pages of The Spokesman-Review. Check in regularly to find out what they’re up to, what they think and where they differ and to joust with them if you want.