The Washington Retail Association has come out against Seattle’s proposed “secure scheduling” law, saying it would lead to reduced work hours and less flexibility for retail employees.
The Washington Retail Association has come out against Seattle’s proposed “secure scheduling” law, saying it would lead to reduced work hours and less flexibility for retail employees.
The sweeping law, intended to protect workers at large retail and chain food service companies from erratic work schedules, would be among the first of its kind among major cities in the U.S., following on the heels of San Francisco.
The retail association, which recently called the proposed law “clear as mud,”Tuesday urged the Seattle City Council to drop the proposal altogether, saying it would “wipe out the scheduling flexibility that benefits employees and employers,” according to a news release.
The proposed law would require employers to post schedules two weeks in advance, and to pay an additional amount (“predictability pay”) to workers if the employer makes changes to the posted schedule, among other provisions.
It also requires employers to keep records for three years, documenting everything from employers’ responses to employees’ requests for schedule changes, to good faith estimates of the number of hours an employee could expect to work.
The retail association, which represents some 3,500 storefronts, also contends that some stores will just operate with fewer employees on a shift rather than pay additional amounts for last-minute changes, and that the proposal would “weigh store managers down with piles of paperwork to document every change in the work schedule for each employee.”
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Advocates for the proposed law point out employees do have flexibility to voluntarily swap shifts — for which employers would not owe predictability pay — and that if employers help faciliate shift swaps or fill open shifts via “mass commmunication” (such as email or texts to all available employees) they also would not owe preditability pay.
The Washington Restaurant Association, meanwhile, says its position remains the same as earlier. “We still believe there is work to be done on the draft policy and we will continue to work with the city and labor advocates as legislation moves through the city council process,” said spokeswoman Jillian Henze.
A public hearing on the proposed law is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Ave.