Flextime plan
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Flextime (or flexitime) is a variable work schedule, in contrast to traditional work arrangements requiring employees to work a standard 9am to 5pm day. Under flexitime, there is typically a "core time" period of the day when employees are expected to be at work (eg between 10 am and 4pm), whilst the rest of the working day is "flexitime", in which employees can choose when they work, subject to achieving total daily and/or weekly hours in the region of what the employer expects, and subject to the necessary work being done.
Flexitime generally applies only to white collar workers.
Flextime in the U.S.
In the U.S., flextime workers, like salaried workers exempted from overtime regulations, are given broad leeway in setting their own work schedule. Unlike exempted salaried workers, employers are still required to pay overtime to a flextime worker if they work more than 40 hours per week. In addition, the employer will usually require that a flextime employee works a minimum number of hours each week.
In recent years, the term "flextime" has acquired a more controversial definition when used to describe proposals to overhaul the nation's overtime regulations. Under one such proposal by the Bush administration made public on August 5, 2004, employers would not be required to pay non-exempt employees overtime for working more than 40 hours in a week so long as the employee works no more than 80 hours over a two week period. For example, a worker could be required to work 70 hours one week and receive no overtime compensation as long as they work 10 hours or less the following week. Such arrangements are opposed by labor organizations such as the AFL-CIO.