{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s1772-114/featured_schedules-that-work-act-1454550949.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s1772-114/featured_large_schedules-that-work-act-1454550949.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s1772-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-07-15","title_override":"Should Employers Have to Change Workers’ Schedules Unless They Have a Good Reason Not To?","summary_override":"

This bill would grant employees the right to request that their employer change the terms and conditions of employment related to their hours, work location, amount of notification they receive for work scheduling, and minimizing changes in their work schedule.

The employer would be required to respond to such a request in a timely manner and begin a good faith discussion to make reasonable changes to the employee’s schedule. Employers would be required to grant the request if it is made because of the following reasons, unless there is a bona fide business reason to reject it:

The employee’s serious health condition;
Their responsibilities as a caregiver;
Their enrollment in a career-related educational or training program;
If a part-time employee requests the change because of their second job.

Employers could deny requests made for any other reason so long as they aren’t unlawful. In that case, the employer would be required to provide the employee the reason for the denial, including whether it was a bona fide business reason.

This bill requires employers to report time and split-shift pay, and give advance scheduling notice to retail, food service, cleaning employees, or workers designated by the Dept. of Labor except for those in executive, administrative, or professional capacities. Workers covered by collective bargaining agreements that govern scheduling practices would not be covered by this legislation.

It would be illegal for an employer to interfere with the ability of an employee to exercise their rights under this legislation, retaliate against them for exercising their rights, or interfere with inquiries into alleged violation of an individual’s rights.In the event of a violation of these provisions, administrative enforcement through the Dept. of Labor and civil remedies would be available.

The Dept. of Labor would be directed to give information and technical assistance to employers, labor organizations, and the general public to aid understanding of this legislation’s requirements.

","official_title":"A bill to permit employees to request changes to their work schedules without fear of retaliation and to ensure that employers consider these requests, and to require employers to provide more predictable and stable schedules for employees in certain occupations with evidence of unpredictable and unstable scheduling practices that negatively affect employees, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Schedules That Work Act","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Schedules That Work Act \n\nGrants an employee the right to request that his or her employer change the terms and conditions of employment relating to:\n\n the number of hours or times the employee is required to work or be on call; the location; the amount of notification he or she receives of work schedule assignments; and minimizing fluctuations in the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Requires the employer, if the request is made, to engage in a timely, good faith interactive process with the employee that includes a discussion of potential schedule changes that would meet his or her needs. Outlines the process for either granting or denying a change.\n\nRequires the employer to grant a request, unless there is a bona fide business reason for denying it, if the request is made because of the employee's serious health condition, his or her responsibilities as a caregiver, or enrollment in a career-related educational or training program...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"Workers and their families, employers, and the Dept. of Labor.","argument_for":"Working families need to have flexibility in their work schedules when they have medical emergencies, or to accommodate their educational aspirations or their second job.","argument_against":"This legislation would be extremely intrusive for business owners and require them to accommodate employee’s scheduling request unless they can show a good reason not to. 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Make your voice heard about the issues you care about.\r\n","page_title":"Unions Legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/unions/black_unions-1429042063.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/unions/grey_unions-1429042063.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/unions/white_unions-1429042063.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false}],"users":[{"name":"Gary","vote_count":237,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/default-with-flags.png","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/default-with-flags.png","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/default-with-flags.png"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/YmqYqDzm/following","followers":"/api/users/YmqYqDzm/followers"},"about_me":null,"twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":0,"is_following":null,"influence_score":80,"influence_level":20,"follower_count":2,"following_count":0,"position_count":53,"id":"YmqYqDzm","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"f85fd449-4b94-4c93-997a-fb962fd8083b","argument_for":null,"argument_against":"government should not mandate when and what a business can do to make ends meet. a","show_argument_for":false,"show_argument_against":true,"upvote_count":0,"upvotes_for_count":null,"upvotes_against_count":0,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":0,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/positions/f85fd449-4b94-4c93-997a-fb962fd8083b"},"body":"government should not mandate when and what a business can do to make ends meet. a","stance":"nay","created_at":"2016-02-03T20:06:02.714Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/positions/f85fd449-4b94-4c93-997a-fb962fd8083b.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"s1772-114","user_id":"YmqYqDzm","endorser_ids":[]}}

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Should Employers Have to Change Workers’ Schedules Unless They Have a Good Reason Not To?