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One to Keep An Eye On: Fair Scheduling Act (California)


As with many employment and labor law related cases (and bills) that are being litigated around the country, there are always a few that stand out.  This is one to keep an eye on.


Readers might remember that about a year ago, I noted that California Bill AB 357 (the Fair Scheduling Act of 2015 Bill) had been shelved because of a lack of support.  That bill sought to require food and retail establishments provide their employees with two weeks advance notice of their schedules and additional "predictability pay" when the employer cancelled or rescheduled its employees' shifts.

This year, SB 878 is a similar bill working its way through the California legislature.  This version of the Fair Scheduling Act would require California grocery, retail, and restaurant employers to provide employees advance notice of their work schedules (at least 7 calendar days) and to pay the employees "modification pay" for any unilateral changes that the employer would make to the work schedule thereafter.  

If a change to the schedule is made more than 24 hours prior to the start of the shift (but within 7 calendar days), the employee would receive an additional hour of pay at his/her regular rate of pay.  If the change to the schedule is made less than 24 hours prior to the start of the shift, the employee would receive modification pay that is at least equal to half of that shift's hours (but no less than 2 hours and no grater than 4 hours).  As always, there are exceptions for acts of God, illness/vacation of another employee (if the employee did not provide 7 days notice of the illness/vacation), among other exceptions.

In April, the California Senate Labor Committee passed the bill by a 4 - 1 vote.  

When readers compare this version of the Fair Scheduling Act with the one that stalled out last year, there are distinct differences that make this version not quite as restrictive on employers.  Whether that will be enough to get the bill passed is hard to say...but given the recent pro-employee laws enacted in the state (California To Raise Minimum Wage to $15/Hour; San Francisco Enacts Broad Paid Leave Law), I would say this has a decent shot.


For additional information:  http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB878

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