New Predictive Scheduling Laws in Effect and Being Considered by State Legislatures

Alert

On April 1, 2023, Los Angeles, California’s predictive scheduling law went into effect. The law follows a national trend of jurisdictions passing employee-friendly predictive scheduling laws, and other states (including Michigan) are considering similar proposals. These laws significantly change the employment relationship, where scheduling employees is a relatively unfettered right of the employer. Under predictive scheduling laws, employers are limited as to when and how they can schedule employees. Employers must be mindful of these new laws because they will likely change the way the majority of businesses schedule their staff.

Predictive Scheduling Generally

Most predictive scheduling laws relate to when and how an employee can be scheduled. Usually they require that either an employee be given a written schedule upon hire or a one to two week advanced notice of their schedule. If deviations are made to the schedule within a certain period, either the employee can decline to work the new shift without being subject to retaliation or the employer has to pay the employee a premium for working the deviation. Additional restrictions include prohibitions on scheduling an employee to close one night and open the very next morning and on working other close-in-time shifts.

Jurisdictions with Predictive Scheduling Laws

Currently, Oregon (effective July 1, 2018) has a statewide predictive scheduling law. The Oregon law applies to employers and nonexempt employees in retail, hospitality, or food services with 500 or more employees worldwide. Among other things, it requires that employers: provide written work schedules (including on-call shifts) at least 14 calendar days in advance; provide timely notice of schedule changes and allow employees to decline shifts not included on their original schedule; and pay a premium for employer-requested schedule changes with less than 14 days’ notice.

Other jurisdictions with predictive scheduling laws include: Berkeley, California (effective January 2023); Emeryville, California (effective January 2018); Los Angeles, California (effective April 1, 2023); San Francisco, California (effective July 3, 2015); San Jose, California (effective March 13, 2017); Chicago, Illinois (effective January 1, 2021); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (effective April 1, 2020); and Seattle, Washington (effective July 1, 2017). Like the Oregon law, these jurisdictions only apply to certain industries. Typical industries include retail, hospitality, food, staffing, financial, and janitorial services.

Jurisdictions Considering Predictive Scheduling Laws

Following this trend, other states have had predictive scheduling bills introduced in their state legislatures. States with these bills pending include Connecticut (H.B. No. 6859), Maine (LD 1190), Michigan (HB 4035), and New Jersey (A807) (S362). As we reported on here, if passed, Michigan HB 4035 would mandate predictive scheduling requirements for certain employers, including those in the retail, hospitality, and food services industries. The bill would require employers to provide new employees with a written good faith estimate of the employee’s work schedule at the time of hire and to give 14 days’ advance notice of work schedules. The bill would also allow employees to decline employer-prompted changes and require time-and-a-half pay when schedule changes are initiated by the employer.

On the other hand, some states that have passed laws barring predictive scheduling laws. These states include Arkansas (effective March 24, 2017), Georgia (effective July 1, 2017), Iowa (effective March 30, 2017), and Tennessee (effective April 19, 2017).

Other Scheduling Laws

In Vermont, employees have the right to request a flexible work schedule and employers must discuss and consider, in good faith, requests at least twice a year. Flexible schedules may include issues related to how many days a week an employee works, the number of hours worked each day, the arrival and departure time for the workday, working from home, and job sharing.

New Hampshire has a law prohibiting employers from retaliating against employees who request a flexible work schedule.

And effective as of January 1, 2023, Illinois’ One Day Rest in Seven Act requires employers to provide employees a minimum of 24 hours of rest within every consecutive 7-day period.

Employer Considerations

Employers in jurisdictions with predictive scheduling laws will need to ensure they are in compliance with these novel laws. Considerations include creating scheduling policies, conducting manager training, revising relevant handbook provisions, and auditing processes for compliance.

We will continue to monitor this issue and report developments. In the meantime, if you have any concerns about how predictive scheduling affects your business, contact one of Honigman’s Labor and Employment attorneys here.

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