SENATE PASSES BILL TO CHANGE GOVERNMENT WORKER OVERTIME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87B00858R000500790032-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 1, 2011
• Sequence Number: 32
• Publication Date: October 26, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/01: CIA-RDP87B00858R000500790032-0
STAT
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House Also Acting:
Senate Passes Bill to Change
Government Worker Overtime
The Senate by voice vote Oct. 24
passed compromise legislation that
would change overtime benefits for
state and local government workers.
The hill (S 1570 - S Rept 99-
159) is a companion measure to legis-
lation (HR 3530) approved by voice
vote Oct. 23 by the House Education
and Labor Committee.
Education and Labor Chairman
Augustus F. Hawkins. D-Calif., said
he expected the House to take up HR
3530 Oct. 2h under suspension of the
rules, a fast-track procedure that per-
mits no amendments but requires a
two-thirds majority of those voting for
passage.
The legislation is designed to ease
the impact of a Feb. 19 Supreme
Court decision that would have re-
quired overtime pay for state and local
government employees. The key sec-
tion of both bills would allow states,
cities and counties to give workers
time-and-a-half compensatory time
off' for each hour of overtime worked,
instead of cash. (Earlierstor.N, Weekly
Report p. 2068)
The Labor Department had in-
tended to start implementing the deci-
sion, Garcia r. San Antonio Metropol-
itan Transit Authority, on Oct. 15,
but Labor Secretary William E. Brock
III postponed the enforcement date to
Nov. 1 to give Congress time to act.
In Garcia, the court ruled that
the minimum-wage and overtime pro-
visions of the Fair Labor Standards
Act (FLSA) apply to state and local
government employees. The decision
reversed a 1976 ruling. National
Lcat,,'ue of Cities u. ('serv, that had
exempted state and local government
workers from FLSA coverage. (Back-
ground. Weekl, Report p. 1647)
Under FLSA, employers must pay
time-and-a-half for hours worked be-
yond 40 a week, although police and
firefighters may work a longer period
before they must be compensated.
Employees can take compensatory
time off instead of cash, but cannot
store it up for future vacations.
While organized labor hailed the
Garcia ruling, state and local officials
claimed it would cost them more than
$1 billion in the coming year to pay
employees for all their overtime.
In early September. labor unions
representing public employees, and
public employer organizations includ-
ing the U.S. Conference of Mayors,
National League of Cities and Na-
tional Association of Counties got to-
gether and negotiated an agreement
that resulted in the legislation now
moving through Congress.
Sen. Pete Wilson, R-Calif. - a
former mayor of San Diego - ex-
pressed reservations about S 1570. He
said it still would result in higher costs
for cities and counties and could result
in a reduction of services. During brief
Senate floor debate, Wilson said the
compromise was "unstatesmanlike"
and "will come back to haunt us."
In addition to the time-and-a-half
compensatory time provision. S 1570
allows public employees to get cash for
overtime after accumulating 480 hours
of overtime. (Under HR 3530, the 480-
hour cap applies to employees who do
seasonal, public safety or emergency
work; other employees, such as clerical
workers. could get cash after 180
hours' overtime.) The changes would
take effect April 15, 1986. 1
Bill Would Restart Pnlvaraph Tests
By voice vote Oct. 23, the House Education and Labor Committee
approved legislation (HR 1524) that would bar most private employers
from requiring employees to take lie detector (polygraph) tests as a condi-
tion of getting or keeping a job.
The bill, sponsored by Pat Williams, D-Mont., and Matthew G. Marti-
nez. D-Calif., chairman of the Employment Opportunities Subcommittee,
exempts state, local and federal government employers from coverage. It
also makes clear that lie detector tests may be used in counterintelligence
work and that persons under contract with the CIA or the National Secu-
rity Agency would be subject to the tests. Individuals under contract with
the FBI also may be subject to polygraph tests when doing counterintelli-
gence work for the bureau.
Currently. about 20 states have some prohibition on the use of poly-
graph tests for employment, according to the Employment Opportunities
Subcommittee. But representatives of organized labor, who have pushed
the legislation. say a federal law is necessary because there are abuses.
Lou Gerber, legislative representative for the Communications Work-
ers of America, said some employers use the tests to verify information on a
person's application form and as a predictor of future behavior, for which
they are unreliable at best. "Our view is that the philosophy of too many
employers is 'In God we trust; others we polygraph,' " Gerber said.
During the committee markup, Marge Roukema, R-N.J., sought to
exempt private security services from coverage under the bill, but her
amendment was rejected, 13-16.
By 20-9, the panel adopted an amendment by Dennis E. Eckart D-
Ohio, allowing companies that manufacture drugs to use lie detector tests
under very specific circumstances involving missing or stolen narcotics.
Under HR 1524, an employer could be fined up to $10,000 for violating
the law. The Labor Department, which would implement and enforce the
law, could seek a court order to restrain an employer from violating it, and
individuals would have the right to sue an employer for violations.
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