Cite as: 508 U. S. 22 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
clause (i), making subclause (ii) available as an alternative vehicle for provision of comp time.
Because there is conflict among the Circuits over the scope of subclause (i)'s coverage,14 we granted certiorari. 506 U. S. 813 (1992).
III
Respondents find the language of the statute perfectly clear. In their view, subclause (ii) plainly authorizes individual agreements whenever public employees have not successfully negotiated a collective-bargaining agreement under subclause (i). Petitioners, on the other hand, contend that ambiguity in the statute itself justifies resort to its legislative history and the DOL regulations, and that these secondary sources unequivocally preclude individual comp time agreements with employees who have designated a representative. We begin our analysis with the relevant statutory text.
At least one proposition is not in dispute. Subclause (ii) authorizes individual comp time agreements only "in the case of employees not covered by subclause (i)." Our task, therefore, is to identify the class of "employees" covered by sub-clause (i). This task is complicated by the fact that sub-14 See, e. g., International Assn. of Fire Fighters, Local 2203 v. West Adams County Fire Dist., 877 F. 2d 814 (CA10 1989) (employees covered by subclause (i) upon designation of representative); Abbott v. Virginia Beach, 879 F. 2d 132 (CA4 1989) (employees covered by subclause (i) upon designation of recognized representative), cert. denied, 493 U. S. 1051 (1990); Dillard v. Harris, 885 F. 2d 1549 (CA11 1989) (employees covered by subclause (i) upon entry of agreement regarding compensatory time), cert. denied, 498 U. S. 878 (1990); Nevada Highway Patrol Assn. v. Nevada, 899 F. 2d 1549 (CA9 1990) (employees covered by subclause (i) upon designation of representative unless state law prohibits public sector collective bargaining).
For discussion of the division in the Courts of Appeals, see generally Note, The Public Sector Compensatory Time Exception to the Fair Labor Standards Act: Trying to Compensate for Congress's Lack of Clarity, 75 Minn. L. Rev. 1807 (1991).
31
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007