I would think that the question would be more a question of the expenditures to bring the current buildings up to standard rather than building new buildings.

Chairman GLENN. Thank you very much.

Chairman GLENN. Mr. Gross, acting assistant administrator, Wage and Hour Division, Employment Standards Administration, Department of Labor.

TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM GROSS,1 ACTING ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Mr. GROSS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to be here today to talk about the Fair Labor Standards Act.

I have a brief prepared statement which I will not read in its entirety, and just highlight some of the

Chairman GLENN. It will be included in the record in its entirety. Thank you.

Mr. Gross. Thank you. The Wage and Hour Division enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act with respect to private employment, State and local government employment, as well as Federal employees of the Library of Congress, U.S. Postal Service, the Postal Rate Commission an he Tennessee Valley Authority.

Other Federal employees, the Office of Personnel Management is responsible for enforcement, with the exception of House of Representatives and the Architect of the Capitol.

The Fair Labor Standards Act defines employees covered by the statute of the government of the United States, and one of the key elements there, it has been alluded to earlier in testimony, is any unit of the legislative or judicial branch of government which has positions in competitive service.

With respect to State and local government employees, it defines those employees of State and local government as covered by the Act. It includes most State and local government employees. However, it does provide that employees in the legislative branch or the legislative body of State and local governments are not subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act.

As part of the 1989 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act, employees of the House of Representatives, and the employing authority of the House of Representatives, were brought under coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Enforcement of those provisions are provided under that amendment to be carried out by the House of Representatives in accordance with its "Fair Employment Practices Resolution."

And therefore, since Wage and Hours really is not responsible for enforcing the provisions of the Act relative to the House of Representatives, we cannot comment on the impact, if any, that the application of the Act has had on employees of the House of Representatives.

Another portion of the Act that has been alluded to in testimony here earlier today involves the equal pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Those provisions, I would note, are enforced

1 The prepared statement of Mr. Gross appears on page 318.

by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under Reorganization Plan No. 1.

Chairman GLENN. Now, would that be the case if congressional employees became subject to the Fair Labor Standards? What would happen then? Would we become subject to different law than we are now, as far as wages for our employees? Would that change things?

Mr. GROSS. Well, are you referring to the equal pay provisions? That is the requirement that there be no discrimination in pay based on gender.

Chairman GLENN. Well, if congressional employees became subject to Fair Labor Standards, what would happen, what would the requirements be?

Mr. GROSS. The requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, they apply basically to minimum wage, overtime after 40 hours in a week; also provides child labor provisions, prohibitions against child labor, and also provides recordkeeping requirements.

So the basic requirement would be for the payment of minimum wage, $4.25 an hour, plus time-and-a-half for overtime after 40 hours in a week.

The Act also provides some exemptions from coverage, the main ones being for employees employed in an executive, professional or administrative capacity, and there is a complete minimum wage and overtime exemption for employees who meet those tests.

Chairman GLENN. OK. It would seem to me that would be a little difficult here on the Hill, because sometimes we keep going 60-70 hours a week, and other times we make up a little bit of that. But late-night sessions, and so on, would that all have to come under time-and-a-half or doubletime, overtime, all that?

Mr. GROSS. Yes, if those

Chairman GLENN. Would that apply to all of our employees in Senate offices?

Mr. GROSS. The Fair Labor Standards Act is applied on a work week basis, and hours worked over 40 in a week for those covered employees would have to be compensated at time-and-a-half their regular rate of pay.

Chairman GLENN. I hope nobody in my office is still watching on closed circuit TV. By the time I get back we will have a lot of claims for overtime. Were you finished? Go ahead.

Mr. GROSS. No, I was finished.

Chairman GLENN . All right Fine.

Congressional staff job descriptions are often not clearly defined, and responsibilities are often fluid. Now, if Fair Labor Standards applied to Congress, would it be necessary for Congress to define job descriptions more precisely and keep employee responsibilities within those prescribed job descriptions?

Mr. GROSS. No, sir. It is not the job description that is determinative of whether an individual is covered but the work which the individual actually performs.

The question would be I think largely whether an individual would qualify as an exempt administrative or professional employee. That would be determined based upon their actual duties

To qualify as an exempt administrative or professional employee, the general requirement would be that their primary duty be within those areas.

So they could perform duties that would fall outside administrative or professional duties, and still qualify as an exempt employee. Chairman GLENN. We now hire a number of employees, most staffs, on an annual salary, but as I indicated there are widely variable work schedules. It depends on the legislative schedule.

Now you are saying that the Fair Labor Standards apply this by the week. If you went over 40 hours for the week, then you are due for extra pay, even if you had comp time in a different week, is that correct?

Mr. GROSS. Yes, that is correct.

There are certain provisions for comp time, for State and local government employees, that were added to the act in 1985.

But outside of the scope of those special provisions, there are also special provisions for law enforcement and fire protection individuals, that would allow them to be paid overtime on a work period basis that would be beyond a work week.

But those are special provisions for special categories of employ

ees.

Chairman GLENN. Would Fair Labor Standards affect the ability of our congressional offices to have the services of unpaid congressional interns, or interns who receive just a stipend? They are below minimum wage, by far, I guess.

Mr. GROSS. Yes. would depend upon the situation that would be involved with that particular intern.

An individual who is taking a college course and as part of that college course is experiencing what goes on in Congress, and acting as an intern relative to their education, those individuals probably would be not considered to be employees and would be trainees.

However, if you have individuals who are just simply-it is not part of their education, but they are volunteering their services or working for the congressional office, those individuals likely would be considered employees, especially if they are receiving some compensation for their time.

Chairman GLENN. OK. We may have additional questions for all of you this morning here, after we have reviewed the record, and other Members that were not able to be here this morning may have additional questions also.

We appreciate your patience this morning. It has been a long hearing, but it is very valuable to us, and we appreciate you bearing with us.

Thank you very much. The hearing will stand in recess, subject to the call the Chair.

[Whereupon, at 1:10 p.m., the Committee adjourned, subject to the call of the Chair.]

To fully apply the rights and protections of Federal law to employment by Congress.

II

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 21 (legislative day, JANUARY 5), 1993

Mr. MCCAIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

1

A BILL

To fully apply the rights and protections of Federal law to employment by Congress.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa

2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4

This Act may be cited as the "Omnibus Congres

5 sional Compliance Act of 1993".

6 SEC. 2. COVERAGE OF CONGRESS.

(a) CONGRESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT.

7

8

9

10

(1) APPLICATION.—

(A) IN GENERAL.-The rights and protec

tions provided pursuant to the provisions speci