Ohio bill may redefine pay for small business employees

A group of Ohio state lawmakers is crafting a bill that could redefine how employees at small businesses in the state can be paid, the Mansfield News-Journal reports. The bill's authors will put forth a new law that will permit small business owners to provide compensatory time for workers who exceed 40 hours in a week, instead of issuing overtime pay.

State representatives Andy Thompson and Jarrod Martin say that the new law would only apply to entrepreneurs with gross sales of $500,000 or less. Conversely, larger companies are overseen by federal law, which permits compensatory time for public employees but not private ones. Currently, there is no law on the books outlining compensatory time, nor is there one rejecting it, according to the paper.

"Maybe this has existed informally, but this is a way of codifying it and making businesses aware that this is available," Thompson said to the paper.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, compensatory time can be permitted instead of overtime pay for employees, including hourly employees, who are asked to work overtime hours under existing, flexible shifts.  

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