Lawmakers Challenge Retailers On Call Scheduling Practices

On-call shifts have long been a part of retail workplace culture. What is intended to be a policy to save the retailer money in labor costs, however, is causing uproar among retail employees.

Recently, state and federal executive officials, lawmakers, and judges have begun to question whether reporting time pay laws prohibit or limit an employer’s use of on call scheduling practices.

On Call Scheduling Practices Prompt Gov’t Attention

Research has suggested that unpredictable schedules have been tied to higher levels of stress and work-family conflict.

In response to recent workplace trends and supporting research that suggest uncertain work schedules can have broad negative consequences for working families, leading Democratic members of Congress introduced legislation to stem abusive on call scheduling practices directed primarily at hourly workers.

Nearly 80 lawmakers out of the House and Senate unveiled the measure in July 2015. The Schedules That Work Act will add restrictions on how employers can schedule their employees.

If passed, it would ban employers from putting their employees on call, splitting their shifts, sending workers home with no pay, or punishing them for requesting schedule changes.

“A single mom working two jobs should know if her hours are being canceled before she arranges for daycare and drives halfway across town to show up at work,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). “This is about some basic fairness in work scheduling so that both employees and employers have more certainty and can get the job done.”

States Weigh In Over On Call Scheduling Practices

Last year, New York’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman sent letters to 14 national retailers, including Target and Gap, questioning their on call scheduling practices.  The letters stated that on call scheduling doesn’t appear to be a business necessity, given that a number of retailers don’t use the method.

Representatives of attorney generals from California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Rhode Island all signed the letters.

The letters cited “public policy concerns” about workers’ well-being because staff subject to on-call scheduling often struggle to make reliable child-care arrangements and often cannot supplement their incomes with second jobs since they have little control over the hours they work.

Not long after receipt of the letters, Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Bath and Body Works announced that they would discontinue their on call scheduling practices.

Calif. Passes On Call Scheduling Legislation

In November 2014, San Francisco passed an ordinance requiring chain restaurants, movie theaters and retailers to provide predictable scheduling.  Known as the Retail Workers Bill of Rights, the law requires retail chains to pay employees who have to be on call for a shift even if it gets canceled, as well as to give workers at least two weeks notice of their work schedules or pay them “predictability pay.”

If these employers made changes to the schedule within a week of the shift, workers would receive an hour’s extra pay for that shift. And if they made changes within 24 hours, the worker would be entitled to two hours’ additional pay for a four-hour shift or four hours’ extra pay for an eight-hour shift.

If someone was on call, and was not called in, the employee would still get paid two or four hours, depending on the length of the on-call availability. There are exceptions for last-minute changes because of another worker’s illness or leave.

The on call scheduling ordinance also requires that the employer offer part-time workers more hours, in writing, before hiring any more part-time workers.

Affected By On Call Scheduling Practices?

Employees are typically not paid for the time spent “on call.”  This practice may be in violation of labor laws. Eight states and the District of Columbia currently have reporting time pay laws in place.

For example, under California law, an employee must be paid for at least two hours of work at his or her regular rate of pay for each workday that he or she is required to report to work — even if the employee is not actually put to work.

If your employer has not paid you the wages that you have earned, you should contact an employment attorney immediately. A lawyer with experience in employment law and on call scheduling practices can provide you valuable assistance.