State, local governments can direct compensatory time off, court rules

WASHINGTON (AP) -- State and local governments can tell their employees when to take the compensatory time off that they agree to receive instead of overtime pay, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The 6-3 decision in a case from Houston said public employers have the authority to control when such time-off credits are used if no pre-existing labor agreement says otherwise.The highest court's interpretation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act is a setback for 127 sheriff's deputies in Harris County, Texas, and for the AFL-CIO, which had supported their legal argument.