26
Opinion of the Court
compensation of state and local employees.6 Following our decision in Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U. S. 528 (1985), upholding that power, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it would hold public employers to the standards of the Act effective April 15, 1985.7
In response to the Garcia decision and the DOL announcement, both Houses of Congress held hearings and considered legislation designed to ameliorate the burdens associated with necessary changes in public employment practices. The projected "financial costs of coming into compliance with the FLSA—particularly the overtime provisions"—were specifically identified as a matter of grave concern to many States and localities. S. Rep. No. 99-159, p. 8 (1985). The statutory provision at issue in this case is the product of those deliberations.
In its Report recommending enactment of the 1985 Amendments, the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources explained that the new subsection 7(o) would allow public employers to compensate for overtime hours with compensatory time off, or "comp time," in lieu of overtime pay, so long as certain conditions were met: The provision of comp time must be at the premium rate of not less than 11/2 hours per hour of overtime work, and must be pursuant to an agreement reached prior to performance of the work. Id., at 10-11. With respect to the nature of the necessary agreement, the issue raised in this case, the Committee stated: "Where employees have a recognized representative, the agreement or understanding must be between that representative and the employer, either through collective
6 Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U. S. 183 (1968); Fry v. United States, 421 U. S. 542 (1975); National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U. S. 833 (1976); Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, 469 U. S. 528 (1985).
7 See S. Rep. No. 99-159, p. 7 (1985). The Department of Labor also announced that it would delay enforcement activities until October 15, 1985; that date was later extended to November 1, 1985. Ibid.
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