Final rules for the Seattle Secure Scheduling Ordinance were published on April 13 by the City of Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards (OLS). Although the Scheduling Ordinance and Final Rules will dramatically change how covered employers schedule workers, the City’s OLS appears to have listened to employers’ concerns. The rules reflect OLS’s attempts to address some of those concerns.
Now, it’s time for covered employers — large retailers and restaurants with 500 employees — to undertake a major overhaul to their scheduling practices between now and the law’s effective date, July 1. To assist, Lane Powell has prepared this checklist to get you started:
- Is your company a covered employer?
- Only large retailers and food-service industry employers with employees working in Seattle must comply.
- Your NAICS Code is key to determining whether your establishment is covered.
- Do you know which of your employees are covered?
- Only certain categories of workers have secure scheduling rights.
- Do you give new hires a written, good-faith estimate of their work schedule?
- Do you have a process to provide employees with a revised estimate annually, and whenever there is a significant change to the employee’s work schedule?
- Do you post work schedules at least two weeks in advance?
- Do you have a process to properly notify employees of changes to the posted work schedule and obtain their consent?
- Are you familiar with the premium pay that must be paid when you change the posted work schedule?
- Do you engage in an interactive process with your employees before making significant changes to the good faith work schedule estimate?
- Do you have a process for employees to identify their schedule preferences (upon hire and during employment)?
- Does your process for employee-initiated schedule requests include an interactive process with the employee, and guidelines for when the request may be approved and may be denied?
- Do you have a process to ensure proper rest between shifts to avoid clopenings or employee-consent and premium pay in lieu of rest?
- Have you trained your front-line supervisors and managers about the secure scheduling rules?
- Do you have a process for internal job-posting before you hire externally, including an access to hours list?