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March 11, 2020

Labor committee approves ‘fair workweek' bill; moves to Senate

The state's leisure and hospitliaty industry shed 300 jobs in April.
By Joe Cooper

A so-called “fair workweek” bill that aims to limit what advocates call abusive on-call scheduling in the retail, food service and hospitality industries has been approved by the General Assembly’s Labor and Public Employees Committee.

Members of the Connecticut Working Families Party says the proposal -- approved Tuesday along party lines with Democrats in support, and Republicans in opposition -- would benefit more than 400,000 low-wage hourly workers in-state by limiting on-call shift scheduling and guaranteeing workers are compensated for lost time when hours are cut at the last minute.

However, the Connecticut chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which has thousands of members in-state, on Tuesday pushed back against the proposal, arguing it would create significant scheduling and hiring challenges for small business owners.

The measure, Senate Bill No. 227, now moves to the Senate for consideration.

According to the bill, employers would be required to provide employees with a written work schedule no later than two weeks prior to the first day of any new schedule. The notice must also be made available in a readily accessible place and transmitted to each employee.

Employers would also need to inform employees of work schedule changes prior to the change taking effect. The employer would then need to revise the written work schedule to reflect any work schedule changes within 24 hours of making the change.

An employee, however, may decline to work any hours not included in the posted work schedule. If the employee consents to work such hours, they must submit their consent in writing. 

Employers would also pay an employee one-half of the their regular rate for any scheduled work hours the staffer does not work due to the canceled or reduced scheduled work hours.

Exemptions for businesses include a state emergency declaration by the governor or president in the event of a fire, weather-related disasters, a public utility failure or public transportation shutdown.

A violation of any of these requirements, among others in the bill, could be subject to a $200 fine and a state order directing compliance.

Connecticut Working Families, a liberal advocacy group that lobbied for creating a state-mandated paid family and medical leave program last year, in a statement Tuesday said service-industry workers are “often forced to work with little notice” and asked to maintain open availability for on-call shifts without any guarantee of work and/or pay. 

“When extra hours or shifts become available, they are routinely denied a chance at the extra time, as employers deliberately keep their schedules at or below part-time levels in order to preclude them from qualifying for benefits,” the organization said.

Andrew Markowski

But the NFIB said the “restrictive scheduling bill” would make it difficult for small businesses to operate on a daily basis.

It especially targets many businesses that have “minimal profit margins” including restaurants and hospitality providers as additional costs generated by the bill would “put them at risk of survival…,” said Andrew Markowski, state director of NFIB in Connecticut. 

“Just imagine a caterer booked an outdoor event, and it's canceled and rescheduled due to weather -- this bill is unreasonable and unworkable,” Markowski said. “This legislation also impacts healthcare and warehouse companies who could have a sudden rush of business and need to call in extra employees to accommodate their customers.”

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