Earlier this year the Sacramento Metro Chamber helped bring down SB 878, the so-called “predictive scheduling” legislation, which would have restricted how businesses schedule their employees.
SB 878 would have required grocery stores, restaurants, and retailers to provide a schedule for 21 consecutive days, 7 days before the first shift of that work schedule. Any change would have required 7 days advanced notice.
“Modification pay” per shift, for any changes the employer makes to an employee’s schedule with less than 7 days’ notice. “Modification pay” would be calculated by dividing the employee’s total wages, not including overtime premium pay, by the total hours worked in the full pay period in the previous 90 days of work. The total number of hours of modification pay was set as follows:
- If notice is less than 7 days but more than 24 hours, modification pay will be equal to or greater than 1 hour at the employee’s normal rate of pay.
- If notice is less than 24 hours, modification pay will be equal to or greater than half of that shift’s scheduled hours at the employee’s regular rate of pay, but no less than 2 hours or more than 4 hours.
- Modification pay would be in addition to an employee’s regular pay for the shift.
- For on-call shifts where the employee must be available but is not called in to work, modification pay would be equal to or greater than half of that shift’s scheduled hours at the employee’s regular rate of pay.
- Modification pay does not apply to changes in rest periods, recovery periods, or meal periods.
The bill would have also allowed the Labor Commissioner to enforce these provisions and order relief for the employee for any violation by the employer.
The Metro Chamber made our opposition clear on behalf of the business community because we know entrepreneurs need not only maximum flexibility but also an end to the avalanche of government mandates. Grocers, restauranteurs, and retailers are essential to our community’s ability to live, work, and play. We will continue to push back on efforts that can endanger the ability to provide jobs and grow our regional economy.