NYC Council barring fast food chains from abruptly changing workers' schedules

Fast food restaurants will be required to give employees their work schedules two weeks in advance, and give them extra bonus pay if hours are changed after that.

NEW YORK -- Fast food and retail workers will be spared last-minute shakeups to their schedules under legislation passed by the City Council Wednesday.

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Fast food restaurants — those in chains with more than 30 locations nationwide — will be required to give employees their work schedules two weeks in advance, and give them extra bonus pay if hours are changed after that.

Retail stores will have to offer 72 hours' notice of schedules, and will be banned from using “on call” scheduling — where they require employees to be available and then make them sit around waiting for word on whether they will work that day.

“The bill asks employers to show their workers a basic level of respect,” said Councilman Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan), one of the sponsors, saying the scheduling tactics “take advantage of the employee with no regard for their personal or financial needs.”

Fast food eateries will be banned from having employees do “clopenings” — or closing the business one night and then opening it the next morning, with less than 11 hours between shifts. A worker who volunteers for such a shift would get an extra $100.

Fast food restaurants will also be required to offer work hours to their existing part-time employees before hiring new people.

More onerous requirements were applied to fast food establishments compared to retail stores because they are part of large corporate chains, but rules could be expanded to more businesses in the future, according to Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn), one of the sponsors.

Mayor de Blasio plans to sign the package.

It “will ensure that workers will be able to budget for the week ahead, schedule childcare, and plan evening classes,” he said in a statement. “Predictable schedules and predictable paychecks should be a right, not a privilege.”

SOURCE Erin Durkin, New York Daily News