Ushering in a new year means accommodating new employment laws. Oregon is the first state to pass a predictive scheduling law. On August 8, 2017, Senate Bill 828 was signed into law with a majority of the provisions becoming effective July 1, 2018. This bill applies to employers in the retail, hospitality, or food services industries with 500 or more non-exempt employees (temporary or leased workers are not included). It requires these employers to provide seven days’ notice (14-days beginning July 1, 2020) to employees of their work schedules. The intended purpose of the bill is to help hourly workers juggle additional priorities like child care and other employment.
The predictive scheduling bill requires employers to provide:
- New hires with a written, good faith estimate of the employee’s work schedule at the date of hire. The estimate must include an average number of hours the employee will likely work per month and if the employee can be included on a voluntary list for additional hours.
- Employees with a work schedule in writing at least seven calendar days prior to the first day of the schedule. The schedule must be posted in a visible and accessible location.
- A rest period of at least 10 hours between shifts unless an employee consents to work during the rest period. If the employee consents to working during this time, employers must pay the employee 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay.
- Additional compensation for work schedule changes to a written schedule without advance 7-days advance notice.
- Ability for employees to provide input into work scheduling. An employee can notify his/her employer of limitations or changes in availability and request not to be scheduled during certain times or locations. The employer is under no obligation to grant the employee’s request.
For additional information, a very helpful Q and A can be found on the Oregon.gov website.
Employers now more than ever are turning to technology to help administer new and changing laws. The predictive scheduling law is a good example of this. Cloud-based scheduling software facilitates compliance by giving employees and employers access to schedules from computers or mobile devices; anywhere internet access is available. An automated scheduling solution can eliminate manual scheduling processes to help ensure optimal coverage for every shift. Employee Self Service (ESS), such as that found in a full HCM suite like People Savvy HCM, is a critical part of this technology, which allows employees to request open shifts, swap shifts with other employees, and request time-off. In the end, the result of implementing or upgrading scheduling technology in your organization will mean happier and more self-sufficient employees, decreased compliance risk, increased productivity, and decreased labor costs.