SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council is scheduled to vote Monday on new scheduling rules for hourly retail and food-service employees, including requiring employers to schedule shifts 14 days in advance and pay workers extra for certain last-minute scheduling changes.
Supporters, including the mayor and labor-backed groups, say the proposed law would address the erratic schedules and fluctuating work hours that make it difficult for people to juggle child care, school or other jobs, to count on stable income or to plan for the future.
The Washington Retail Association and other businesses have opposed the proposal. They say the measure is too restrictive, imposes burdensome bookkeeping and fines and would create more problems and less flexibility for workers.
A council committee unanimously approved the measure on a 5-0 vote last week. If the full City Council approves the ordinance Monday afternoon, Seattle would follow San Francisco in becoming the second major U.S. city to pass such scheduling legislation.
“This has been a real effort and movement on the part of workers who are most impacted by the lack of predictability in their hourly schedules,” Councilwoman Lorena Gonzalez, the bill’s co-sponsor, told colleagues at a briefing Monday morning. She noted that councilmembers, stakeholders and others have been working together on the issue for months. “I’m really excited about it.”
Across the country, companies have faced increasing pressure to make schedules for their workers more predictable and reliable. In July, Wal-Mart launched a new scheduling system to give thousands of hourly employees more certainty about their hours. After Starbucks employees complained about securing enough shifts, CEO Howard Schultz said in July the company would work to ensure they have enough hours.
In Seattle, the proposed law would apply to retail and fast-food companies with 500 employees globally and to full-service restaurants with 500 employees and 40 establishments. Violators could be subject to civil fines.
The “secure scheduling” proposal would require companies to compensate workers with “predictability pay” when they’re scheduled but don’t get called into work or are sent home early; set a minimum 10 hours rest between open and closing shifts; offer hours to existing employees before hiring new staff; and provide workers with a written good faith estimate of their expected hours.
It exempts companies whose employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement with similar scheduling provisions.
Workers who testified in favor of the measure have said they wanted more notice of their shifts and more control over their schedules. Meanwhile, some employers have told council members that they already work collaboratively to ensure they meet workers’ scheduling needs and that the onerous rules could drive them out of the city.
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