Predictive scheduling: A movement towards shift notice and income consistency for employees

Imagine having difficulty scheduling childcare or attending classes after work to further your education because your schedule was constantly changing from day to day and from week to week. People who work in the retail, food services, and hospitality industries often face this issue when trying to plan their life outside working hours. The needs of businesses—especially in the retail, food services, and hospitality industries—change from week to week. Therefore, it has benefited businesses to schedule shifts and make changes to those schedules without providing much notice to employees. Companies want their workers to be flexible and available when they are needed.

But this is very difficult for workers. It doesn’t allow them to schedule their lives before or after work or maintain any type of consistency. In some cases, employees are simply on call and are not even guaranteed work. Therefore, the incomes of these employees can fluctuate drastically, depending on whether they are called into work or not or whether their shifts are shortened or lengthened.

What is predictive scheduling?

Predictive scheduling laws generally require a minimum amount of notice to be provided for an employee’s scheduled shift or if changes are made to an employee’s scheduled shift. Predictability pay may be required if shift reductions or changes are made after the initial notice of the shift is provided or if on-call employees are not ultimately called into work.

Where do we have predictive scheduling laws?

The first predictive scheduling ordinance was passed in San Francisco, California, in 2014, and since then, other states and localities have taken notice. Seattle, WA; San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose, and Emeryville, CA; Chicago, IL; New York City, NY; and Philadelphia, PA have followed suit with different variations of fair scheduling laws. Oregon is the first state to enact a statewide predictive scheduling law.

In addition, areas across the country, as well as the federal government, are considering the issues and determining whether predictive scheduling laws should be implemented on a larger scale. On the other hand, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, and Tennessee have prohibited the enactment of predictive scheduling laws in their states. Below are summaries of three different examples of predictability pay laws.

San francisco: the pioneer of predictive scheduling

In San Francisco, employers covered by the law are required to provide new employees with a good faith written estimate of the minimum number of scheduled shifts per month, as well as the days and hours of those shifts. Employees must receive their schedules two weeks in advance. Schedules can be posted or provided electronically if employees are given access to the electronic schedules at work.

If an employer changes an employee’s schedule with less than seven days’ notice, the employer must pay the employee an additional 1 to 4 hours of pay based on the amount of notice provided and the length of the shift. If an employee is required to be on-call but is not called into work, the employer must pay the employee an additional 2 to 4 hours of pay, based on the amount of notice provided and the length of the shift.

There are several exceptions to the rules, such as when:

• Operations cannot begin or continue due to threats to the employees or property
• Public utilities fail or by something beyond the control of the employer
• Another employee previously scheduled to work that shift is unable to work and did not provide at least seven days’ notice
• Another employee fails to report to work or was sent home
• The employer requires the employee to work overtime
• The employee switches shifts with another employee or requests a change in shifts

Seattle: on the cutting edge of predictive scheduling

Under Seattle’s Secure Scheduling Ordinance, employers must provide new employees with a good faith estimate of the median hours an employee can expect to work, including on-call shifts. Employees may request a preferred schedule to meet their commitments outside working hours. Employers must post employees’ work schedules 14 days in advance.

If an employer adds hours to the employee’s schedule after posting it, the employer must pay the employee for one additional hour. If an employee is scheduled for a shift and then sent home early, the employer must pay the employee for half of the hours not worked. Employees receive half-time pay for any shift they are on-call and do not get called into work.

There are exceptions to the rules in Seattle as well, such as when an employee:

• Requests a change to the schedule
• Trades shifts with another employee
• Provides notice of additional hours through mass communication
• Volunteers to cover more hours
• Conducts an in-person group conversation with employees currently on shift to cover new hours to fill the needs of its customers
• Agrees to work more hours

Oregon: A bold statewide statement

Oregon’s statewide Fair Scheduling Law affects retail, hospitality, and food services establishments that employ 500 or more employees worldwide. Employers must provide a new employee with a written good faith estimate of the employee’s work schedule at the time of hire. An employer must also provide an employee with a work schedule in writing at least 14 calendar days before the first day of the work schedule.

The employer must post the written work schedule in English and in the language the employer typically uses to communicate with the employees. The schedule must include all work shifts and on-call shifts for the work period.

If the employer requests changes to the written work schedule after the required advance notice is given, the employer must provide the employee with timely notice of the change by in-person conversation, telephone call, e-mail, text message, or other accessible electronic or written format and the employee may decline any work shifts not included in the employee’s written work schedule.

An employer must provide predictable pay compensation to an employee for each employer-requested change that occurs to the employee’s written work schedule without advance notice, with a few exceptions.

Helping employees gain consistency

In the end, predictive scheduling makes life much easier for employees by allowing them to maintain a steady flow of income, schedule transportation to and from the workplace without continual last-minute changes, take on a second job if additional income is needed, organize childcare, and commit to attending educational classes off-hours to further their education.