Calif., New York Crack Down On On-Call Retail Shifts

On-call retail scheduling has come under fire in several states, and the practice as a whole is under investigation for potential neglect and exploitation of employees.

In New York, the state attorney general is investigating 13 major retail chains for using on-call shifts to schedule employees.

“On-call” is a type of job scheduling that requires a worker to be available to work a shift in case they are needed, but the worker is not guaranteed the hours they are scheduled to work.

For example, say an employer schedules an on-call shift for an employee from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The employee must “call-in” in the morning, or a couple of hours prior to the start of the on-call shift, to see if they are needed during this work shift.

Because they do not know for sure if they will be working or not, the employee cannot schedule work hours with another job or employer during these on-call shifts, meaning that often times a worker will miss out on possible work hours, especially if they call-in and are told they are not needed to come in that day.

Employees are not compensated for the time spent waiting to see if they are needed, and are also not paid for the work hours they miss out on because of on-call scheduling.

If the employee is needed for the call-in shift, the employee must be ready to work with barely any notice. If they have dependents like children or elderly parents, they may need to make last minute arrangements for their care, which may not always be possible.

Essentially, on-call retail shifts force part-time employees to function as day-laborers and the practice creates financial as well as social uncertainty, possibly violating on-call labor laws.

New York Cracks Down on On-Call Retail Shifts

According to CNN reports, the New York attorney general’s office sent out letters to 13 retail chains who operate stores within the state, requesting more information about on-call retail shifts.

Multiple reports had been filed to the office of the Attorney general, stating that more and more major retailers are turning to on-call retail schedules in order to ensure they have more employees during busy sales days or seasons, and fewer when sales are slow.

The 13 retailers who received these on-call retail letters include Target, Sears, Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap, Ann Taylor, Burlington Stores, Crocs, JC Penney, J. Crew Group, L Brands, TJX, Urban Outfitters, and Williams Sonoma.

According to the on-call letter, the office of the attorney general is seeking more information on this type of scheduling, because on-call scheduling is known to cause workers to “experience adverse financial and health effects, as well as overall stress and strain on family life.”

California On-Call Retail Investigation

New York is not the only state that is looking into this labor practice. Currently, California employment attorneys are looking for retail employees who live and work in the state of California to possibly join a California on-call retail class action investigation. Because on-call shifts allegedly force employees to miss out on possible work hours with other employers, put undue strain on home life, and even keep employees from pursuing classes in higher education, these workers may be due compensation for the hours they are forced to be on-call.