Currently, under a Tip Rate Determination Agreement (TRDA), the IRS and the employer work together to determine the amount of tips that employees receive and should report. Under a Tip Reporting Alternative Commitment (TRAC), the employer agrees to educate employees and establish tip reporting procedures. In return for these agreements, the IRS agrees not to initiate tip examinations of the employer while the TRAC agreement is in effect. The purpose of a TRAC agreement is to help employers and employees understand and meet their tip reporting responsibilities.

The IRS has simplified and shortened the TRDA and TRAC already in effect for the food and beverage industry and the TRAC in effect for the cosmetology and barber industry. In addition, the IRS has developed a TRDA and TRAC for other industries where tipping is customary. Employers that will be able to participate include taxicab and limousine companies, airport skycap companies and car wash operations.

EmTRAC. The IRS will now permit employers in the food and beverage industry to design their own agreements, called the Employer's Tip Reporting Alternative Commitment (EmTRAC). EmTRAC will include the same employer commitments and protections as TRAC agreements. Eventually, the IRS may expand the option to other industries.

Finally, effective October 1, 2000, when there are flagrant violations of the tip reporting rules, the IRS will resume tip examinations and assessments for FICA taxes on employers only, without first determining the tip income of individual employees.

Comments on the new and expanded agreements are invited and should be submitted by July 7, 2000 to the IRS (IRS Notice 2000-21 and IRS Announcement 2000-19, 20, 21, 22, 23, IRB 2000-19, May 8, 2000; IRS News Release IR-2000-26, April 27, 2000).

Public employers may compel use of comp time under the FLSA. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not prohibit a public employer from compelling the use of compensatory time off to reduce the employer's potential cash payment obligation. The United State Supreme Court rejected a claim by deputy sheriffs that the FLSA implicitly prohibits compelled use of compensatory time absent an agreement to do so.

Section 7(o) of the FLSA permits public employers to compensate their employees for overtime work by granting them compensatory time off in lieu of cash payment. If the employees do not use their accumulated compensatory time, the employer must pay cash compensation under specified circumstances.

Fearing the consequences of having to pay for accrued compensatory time, a county adopted a policy requiring its employees to schedule time off in order to reduce the amount of accrued time.

Section 7(o)(5) provides that an employee who requests to use compensatory time must be permitted to do so, unless the employer's operations would be unduly disrupted. That provision merely ensures that an employee receives some timely benefit for overtime work. Because the FLSA is silent on the issue of restricting an employer's efforts to require employees to use compensatory time and, in this case, the county's policy was entirely compatible with Section 7(o)(5), there was no proof that the county violated the provision (Christensen v Harris County, USSupCt, No 98-1167, May 12, 2000).

Complainants concerned about confidentiality are urged to use either a home computer or a publicly accessible computer, such as those found in local libraries.

The Workers' Page also contains important background information about worker rights and employer responsibilities and provides electronic links to many sources of information about occupational safety and health issues.

The new order does not interfere with an employer's ability to select workers. Instead, it is an attempt to ensure that workers are not discriminated against simply because they are parents. If a person is willing to put in the time and is qualified, he or she should not be subject to discrimination just because the prospective employer does not think the person will be able to measure up to the job and work the hours required.

The President would like to see the same action enacted in Congress for the rest of the country that he is taking in the federal workplace (Executive Order 11478, as amended).