The Board of Directors of the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR) adopted updated regulations implementing the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and urged Congress to approve the new regulations in its Notice of Adoption published in today’s Congressional Record.
The OCWR is an independent, nonpartisan office of the legislative branch responsible for administering the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA). The CAA applies 14 employment, labor, safety and health, and accessibility laws to the legislative branch, including laws that prohibit workplace discrimination and harassment.
In its Notice of Adoption, the OCWR’s Board of Directors noted that the current FLSA regulations, which were issued in 1996, are “woefully outdated.” The new regulations proposed today “will provide the modernization necessary to properly remunerate legislative branch employees for overtime consistent with the executive branch and the private sector.”
The CAA requires that, to be effective, all substantive regulations must be approved by Congress.
Under the CAA, the OCWR Board cannot formally issue and enforce updated proposed regulations until the regulations receive congressional approval.
For more information on the updated overtime provisions of the FLSA and the work of the OCWR, contact Nancy Baldino, Director of Communications, at Nancy.Baldino@ocwr.gov or call 202-724-9250.
