Oregon Becomes First State to Legislate Fair Scheduling
Earlier this year, Oregon passed landmark legislation that made it the first U.S. state to regulate the scheduling practices of large retail and food service employers. Oregon joins cities such as San Francisco, San Jose, Emeryville, Seattle, and New York City, who have all passed similar ordinances at the local level.
The following is a summary of the provisions of Oregon's Fair Work Week Act:
Good Faith Estimate of Hours and Standby List - Employer is required to give new hires a good faith estimate of the median number of hours they can expect to work in an average one-month period. Employees who desire to work more hours than the estimate may opt to be on a standby list. Employees on the standby list have the right to accept or refuse, without retaliation, any hours offered after the schedule has been posted. Being on the standby list exempts employees from being eligible for extra compensation for schedule changes made after posting.
Advance Notice of Schedule - Employer must provide work schedules a minimum of 14 days in advance.
Right to Rest - Employer cannot schedule two consecutive shifts with less than 10 hours between. If employee requests or consents to work such a shift, each hour that falls less than 10 hours after previous shift is entitled to 1.5x employee's regular hourly rate.
Right to Input - Employee has a right to make scheduling requests without retaliation. Employer is not obligate to grant requests. Employer has right to request verification of the reason given for a request, but must pay costs of providing such verification, including medical verifications not covered by an employer health care benefit. (This part about employer paying for doctor's notes that they require is pretty amazing. I haven't seen it in other fair scheduling laws. I would think this would certainly incentivize employers to offer health benefits and provide sick days to part-time employees.)
Compensation for Schedule Changes - Employer must pay a bonus hour of pay for each shift that was changed (with no lost hours) or added by the employer after the schedule being posted. For any hours cut by the employer after the schedule being posted, employer must pay for each scheduled-but-unworked hour at half the employee's regular rate of pay.
Next time, we'll look at the legislation that gets the distinction of being the first of its kind, the San Francisco Worker's Bill of Rights.
The following is a summary of the provisions of Oregon's Fair Work Week Act:
Good Faith Estimate of Hours and Standby List - Employer is required to give new hires a good faith estimate of the median number of hours they can expect to work in an average one-month period. Employees who desire to work more hours than the estimate may opt to be on a standby list. Employees on the standby list have the right to accept or refuse, without retaliation, any hours offered after the schedule has been posted. Being on the standby list exempts employees from being eligible for extra compensation for schedule changes made after posting.
Advance Notice of Schedule - Employer must provide work schedules a minimum of 14 days in advance.
Right to Rest - Employer cannot schedule two consecutive shifts with less than 10 hours between. If employee requests or consents to work such a shift, each hour that falls less than 10 hours after previous shift is entitled to 1.5x employee's regular hourly rate.
Right to Input - Employee has a right to make scheduling requests without retaliation. Employer is not obligate to grant requests. Employer has right to request verification of the reason given for a request, but must pay costs of providing such verification, including medical verifications not covered by an employer health care benefit. (This part about employer paying for doctor's notes that they require is pretty amazing. I haven't seen it in other fair scheduling laws. I would think this would certainly incentivize employers to offer health benefits and provide sick days to part-time employees.)
Compensation for Schedule Changes - Employer must pay a bonus hour of pay for each shift that was changed (with no lost hours) or added by the employer after the schedule being posted. For any hours cut by the employer after the schedule being posted, employer must pay for each scheduled-but-unworked hour at half the employee's regular rate of pay.
Next time, we'll look at the legislation that gets the distinction of being the first of its kind, the San Francisco Worker's Bill of Rights.
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