Kansas City Star - Leave Law Should Reflect Real Life

Op-Ed

By Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins

Ask any working mom or dad, and they will tell you balancing their career and family responsibilities are incredibly challenging. I know from personal experience how tough it is to occasionally miss family events. Family always comes first for me, so while prioritizing family and still having a rewarding career is indeed difficult, it is completely worth the challenge.

I often hear from working moms and dads who wish they had more flexibility to take care of family responsibilities outside of work. Unfortunately, non-salaried employees in the private sector are burdened by unnecessary federal restrictions that allow little flexibility when it comes to crafting their work schedules.

For nearly 30 years government employees have enjoyed the option of receiving paid time-off or "comp-time" in exchange for working overtime. Unfortunately, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 prohibits private-sector workers from taking advantage of this same benefit. If you work for the government, you have the option of working a little extra one day and then exchanging it for "comp" time to go to your daughter's soccer game the next; but if you work in the private sector, the law prevents your employer from offering that option. That's wrong.

I am a co-sponsor of H.R. 1406, the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013 introduced by my colleague Rep. Martha Roby, a Republican from Alabama, to help these folks by granting private sector workers the same rights public-sector workers enjoy. This type of legislation is the exact reason I ran for Congress and why I am proud to be a Republican -- to make sure the laws passed in Washington help people, not make life more difficult for hardworking taxpayers and their families.

Today, a far greater percentage of women are working, fewer adults are married, and roughly 60 percent of two-parent households with children under age 18 have two working parents.

Most working parents say it is difficult for them to balance the responsibilities of their job with the responsibilities of their family, while seven of 10 working mothers with children under age 18 say having a flexible schedule is extremely important to them. The Working Families Flexibility Act is a huge step forward for moms and dads by allowing more time to attend teacher conferences, care for an aging parent or simply stay home with a sick child.

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