The U.S. Supreme Court case Edward Christensen, et al. v. Harris County, et al., 1999 revolved around the interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in relation to public sector employees' compensation for overtime work with compensatory time off or "comp time". The plaintiffs were deputy sheriffs from Harris County who argued that they should have been allowed to use their accrued comp time whenever they chose and that any restrictions placed by the county violated FLSA provisions. However, the defendants contended that under FLSA's section 7(o), public employers had discretion over when comp time could be used as long as it didn't unduly disrupt operations. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Harris County stating that nothing in FLSA guarantees employees an absolute right to use comp time at their own discretion and thus upheld its constitutionality.

In the dissenting opinion for Edward Christensen, et al. v. Harris County, et al., Justice Stevens argued that the majority's interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was incorrect and overly narrow. He contended that compensatory time should be treated in a similar manner to overtime pay under FLSA regulations, meaning employees should have control over when it is used rather than employers. The justice believed this would better align with Congress' intent to protect workers from excessive hours without adequate compensation or rest periods. Furthermore, he expressed concern about potential abuse by employers who could force employees to use their accrued compensatory time at inconvenient times or before they had accumulated enough for meaningful breaks from work.