Is flex time really illegal? We use it now at my workplace (a huge, multinational corporation), and the computer timekeeping systems recognize paid, flex hours taken off. I’m a salaried, exempt worker by the current definition. We do, however, get paid overtime, but not necessarily at the 1.5x or 2x rate (there’s a cap based on 1.5x or 2x the highest hourly employee pay rate). Alternatively, we can take flex time. No one ever really cares which any of use ever choose. If it’s a few hours, I take the pay. If I work 17 hours like yesterday, I’m going to ask for 8 hours of flex time plus an hour of overtime (I like the round numbers). I was under the impression that flex time was perfectly legal, in that I’m an exempt employee and have to right to overtime. On the other hand, there are a hell of a lot of good jobs out there (if you’re not a web designer) and competition pretty-much forces overtime to be paid if not the law.
For the employee and the employer, it seems to me that flex time = overtime pay. If you take the flex time off, someone is (1) either not getting work done while you’re not there, or (2) someone else is working extra hard to cover for you.