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Predictive Scheduling Ordinance Introduced in Los Angeles City Council


Late last week, three members of the Los Angeles City Council announced a proposed ordinance that would provide many retail workers in the city with a predictive work schedule.  Under the proposal, employees at retail businesses with 300 or more employees would have the right to written and posted work schedules, two weeks’ notice of their work schedules, the ability to request a flexible schedule and the right to decline work hours without retaliation from their employer, predictably in pay (by requiring employers to provide a ‘good faith’ estimate of weekly work hours at the time of hire), the right to at least 10 free hours between shifts (so as to not have to close and then open the next morning), and access to additional work hours.

The crux of much of the support for the ordinance can be summed up by City Council President Herb Wesson:  “A retail job may not be a traditional 9-5, but these workers deserve scheduling consistency from their employers.  If you don’t know when or how often you’ll be working week-to-week, it’s impossible to plan for your day-to-day life.”  This ordinance seeks to remedy these concerns by providing retail workers in the city with the above referenced protections.

It is expected that once the city attorney drafts the precise wording of this predictive scheduling ordinance, business groups and employers will mobilize against it.  It is worth noting that while some cities in the state have already approved similar measures, a statewide ordinance has not managed to pass.  I find this to be somewhat surprising, given the employee friendly nature of the Legislature in California.  (After all, the state has previously approved a statewide $15/hour minimum wage rate for all hourly employees in the state by 2023, and Los Angeles has previously approved a progressive minimum wage hike for hourly workers in the city.). For the time being, labor advocates seeking a statewide predictive scheduling law will likely have to settle for these ‘incremental’ victories at the local level, until the Legislature can find enough support for a statewide predictive scheduling law.  With that being said, while this ordinance that has been introduced in the Los Angeles City Council is no sure thing, if I were a betting man, I would expect it will likely find enough support to pass sooner rather than later.


For additional information:  https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-retail-scheduling-20190302-story.html

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