Comp Time: Who Benefits Most?

Since early May, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013 (also called the "comp time" bill) by a narrow margin, many articles and blogs have opined on whether the proposed legislation would actually benefit employees by providing time off instead of overtime pay. Like many other types of employment-related legislation and existing laws, it depends. 

One of the first factors to consider is whether the employee works for an honest, ethical compliance-oriented employer. If so, the proposed law probably would benefit the employee by providing an added element of choice between more take-home pay and more time off, with little to no risk that the employer might deny the employee the earned time off. If not, the employee probably has much more to fear than whether the employer will be reasonable about and follow the proposed rules relating to comp time.