• Give employees the right to ask for schedules that better meet their professional and family needs: Workers would have the right to request more flexible or more predictable schedules, request more or fewer work hours and ask for minimal fluctuations in scheduling. Employers would be required to consider and respond to schedule requests.

• Give employees with specific needs more protections: Scheduling requests for priority reasons would have to be granted by employers, if possible.  Priority reasons include health conditions, child care, elder care, a second job, education or job training.

• Protect workers from retaliation: Employers would be prohibited from punishing workers for their work requests.

• Require reporting pay: Often workers are called in to work, only to be sent home or put on call without pay or guarantee of work. The law would require employers to provide at least four hours of wages for employees who report to work when scheduled for shifts of four hours or longer and are sent home before four hours of work.

• Require call-in pay: For employees that are required to call in less than 24 hours before a shift and are not allowed to work for at least four hours, employers would be required to pay them at least one hour’s wages.

• Require split-shift pay: Workers who are required to work nonconsecutive hours would be paid an additional hour’s wages for time spent between shifts waiting to work.

• Require employers to provide employees with clear expectations about hours and scheduling: As part of working a job, employees would be provided with a general idea of the schedules and number of hours they will be working and employers would be required to tell workers about changes in advance. Short-notice changes would require additional pay.

• Help women have more ability to meet work and family responsibilities: Women workers make up the majority of low-wage jobs that would be affected by the bill, and improving their scheduling would make it easier for them to meet both work and family responsibilities.

• Provide students with increased flexibility in pursuing higher education: According to CLASP, unpredictable scheduling limits class choice, the number of classes taken, class schedules and access to campus facilities, all of which slow down student progress toward graduation.

• Benefit the economy: Unreliable and unpredictable scheduling is a drain on workforce productivity and increases turnover. Making schedules more reliable would help reduce both of these problems, which would increase business profits and help create more jobs.

• Benefit businesses, too: More reliable schedules also would contribute to higher job satisfaction, higher organizational loyalty, higher worker performance and productivity, lower absenteeism and lower turnover.

 

AFLCIO – 11 Ways the ‘Schedules that Work’ Act Would Make the Lives of Working Families Better

Salon – Robert Reich: America’s “flexible” economy is making workers’ lives hell

National Law Review – Bill in Congress Would Allow Employees to Request Changes to Schedules

Unpredictable Scheduling Practices are Hurting Workers and T heir Families

Huffington Post – Gap To End On-Call Scheduling For Workers

The Nation – Walmart Says Its Reforming Its Brutal Scheduling System, but Workers Tell a Different Story

The Nation – The Tyranny of the On-Call Schedule: Hourly Injustice in Retail Labor

Promising Fair Schedules Now, Retailers Show That Treating Employees Well Was Always an Option

The Atlantic – Homework Inequality: The Value of Having a Parent Around After School

The Atlantic – A Formula for Perfect Productivity: Work for 52 Minutes, Break for 17

The Atlantic – The End of On-Call Scheduling?

Star Tribune – Minneapolis weighs sweeping new rules for sick time, work schedules

ABC News – Urban Outfitters to End on-Call Scheduling in New York

VOX – The Gap is ending on-call schedules. Here’s why the practice was making workers miserable.

Wall Street Journal – Abercrombie to End Controversial On-Call Scheduling

Wall Street Journal – Bath & Body Works to End On-Call Scheduling

CNN – Retailers warned about ‘on call’ schedules

Think Progress – Retailer Will End On-Call Scheduling, Give Workers Their Schedules Ten Days In Advance

Think Progress – Walmart Makes Small But Important Change To How It Schedules Workers

Think Progress – The Laws That Could Protect Workers From Chaotic Schedules That No One Knows About

Think Progress – Emeryville is the third city to guarantee humane scheduling for its workers

Think Progress – What It Means To Have To Work ‘Anytime Of The Day, Any Day Of The Week’

Think Progress – How Unpredictable Hours Are Screwing Up People’s Lives

Think Progress – City Passes Historic Retail Workers Bill Of Rights

Minneapolis Post -scheduling ordinance would be the most sweeping in the country

The Stranger – The City Council Might Actually Do Something About Unpredictable Scheduling for Low-Wage Workers

Business Journal – Predictable schedules are good for women, good for business

Bill Moyers – How the New Flexible Economy Is Making Workers’ Lives Hell

Seattle Times – Schedule workers as you would have them schedule you

Seattle Times – Seattle officials propose sweeping law to protect workers from erratic schedules

Seattle Times – Some REI workers plan forum to push for better hours, pay

Seattle Times – Seattle City Council approves worker-scheduling law

ILO – Working Time Around the World Trends in working hours, laws and policies in a global comparative perspective

Talk Poverty – Want a Great Gift for Moms? Try Giving Them Better Hours

DCist – D.C. Council Moves Toward New Work Scheduling Requirements

Seattle workers demand ‘predictable schedules’

San Francisco Chronicle – Unpredictable work hours and income take their toll

The Stranger – The City is Getting Serious About Secure Scheduling

The Guardian – Yes, zero hours work can be banned: New Zealand has just done it

The Guardian – Sports Direct ditches zero-hours jobs and ups worker representation

The Guardian – Everyman cinema chain is next to drop zero-hours contracts

The Guardian – Santa’s elves at Center Parcs offered zero-hours contracts

Machinists back Seattle’s secure scheduling proposal

Gazette Times – Editorial: Seattle schedule proposal could attract Oregon interest

Oregonian – Oregon businesses brace for fight over employee scheduling: Editorial Agenda 2016

Argus Observer – Secure scheduling could reach Oregon

Mayor de Blasio, Council Members, Advocates Announce Plan to Ensure New York City’s Fast Food Workers Are Protected by Fair Workweek Legislation

Radio New Zealand – Restaurant Brands workers to get fully guaranteed hours

Reuters – 9th Circuit may punt on-call scheduling question to California high court

Silicon Valley Business Journal – New initiative would force San Jose employers to offer more hours to part-timers before hiring additional staff

U.S. News – A Fair Workweek Is a Right

Ballotpedia – San Jose, California, Additional Hours for Part-Time Workers, Measure E (November 2016)

San Jose – Opportunity to Work

NBC – For Some Families in San Jose, Measure E is a Matter of Survival

Los Angeles Times – Six retailers agree to stop using on-call shift scheduling

Los Angeles Times – J. Crew ends on-call scheduling for workers in U.S. stores

Zero-hours contracts could harm mental health of younger people, study finds

Think Summer Child Care Is Tough? Low-Income Families Deal With That All Year

Boston Council To Consider New Employee Protections For City Contractors

Philadelphia could become the next city to pass a scheduling law for retail and fast-food companies

City Council approves Chicago’s ‘fair workweek’ ordinance: Now many workers must get two weeks’ notice of their schedules