Ohio House Bill 61, if passed, will give small business employees the ability to choose between overtime pay and vacation compensatory time for more than 40 hours of work per week.
The choice between overtime pay and extra vacation time is decided by the individual employee and must be validated in a written agreement between the employer and employee. Employees may change their overtime payment choice from week to week. If the employee chooses overtime pay, the employer decides if and when employees can have time off.
The editorial board of The Miami Student supports House Bill 61 and especially agrees with the flexibility of choice between extra vacation time and overtime pay the bill provides.
Having a choice between the two options and the ability to change between them ensures employees of mom-and-pop stores will not feel locked in to a choice that may or may not necessarily be the most beneficial and logical choice at certain times.
However, the board foresees a possibility of mounting piles of paperwork for payroll for small businesses if many of the employees switch constantly between overtime pay and vacation compensation. Although businesses that gross less than $500,000 usually do not have many full-time employees that work overtime shifts, the possibility of extra contract work for the business may exist, especially if employees change choices on a week-to-week basis.
Although each small business is different, if employees choose overtime pay, not much may change in the case of scheduling and off-days. Employees may feel like they may lose some freedom in choosing free days, but in the experience of the board, employers are not fond of just handing out off-days to employees. Not much would change if employees would choose overtime pay.
While House Bill 61 does not limit any laws that are currently in place in Ohio law, it allows for relatively fluid and fair choices for both employees and small business owners.
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