New York City has joined San Francisco, Emeryville, Seattle and the State of Oregon in passing predictive scheduling laws, which require certain employers to give employees a minimum amount of advance notice of their work schedule. A number of other states and municipalities have considered similar regulations, and we anticipate that more laws like these will be offered up in state legislatures and in city councils across the nation.
Retail employers
Retail employers with 20 or more employees will be required to do the following:
- Provide employees with a written work schedule at least 72 hours in advance of the first shift on the schedule.
- Give employees at least 72 hours’ notice before scheduling or cancelling a shift; employees who are interested in more work may consent in writing to the scheduling of a new shift.
- Directly notify employees of any schedule changes (employees cannot be expected to come in or call in just to check for changes).
- Keep records of work schedules for the previous three years and provide them upon request.
Fast food establishments
Fast food establishments that are part of a chain (30+ stores nationally, whether franchised or not) are subject to different rules. They must do the following:
- Provide new employees with written, good faith estimates of their schedule, including dates, times, and locations, for the duration of their employment.
- Provide employees with a week’s worth of scheduling at least 14 days in advance.
- Pay a “schedule change premium” of $10 to $75 if schedule changes are made on short notice; the greater the notice, the lesser the premium.
- Pay employees an extra $100 for “clopening” shifts (a closing shift followed by an opening shift) that are less than 11 hours apart.
- When looking to fill additional shifts, offer the work to current employees before transferring employees from other locations or hiring new workers.
Automated time and attendance
These new predictive schedule laws underscore the importance for qualifying businesses to consider an automated timekeeping system that syncs the timeclock with a scheduling module and other features. To learn more about our time and attendance solutions - or just to speak with an expert - click the link below.
If you're a small business owner or HR Manager trying to wrap your head around the complex world of time and attendance, check out our comprehensive resource page, Time and Attendance - A Complete Guide. This page spells out literally everything you'd need to know about time and attendance, including timekeeping procedures, time clocks, employee scheduling, compliance considerations, emerging trends and a whole bunch more.
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