LA County Joins Growing List of Jurisdictions with Fair Workweek

Joining a growing number of jurisdictions across the country, including the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County’s Fair Work Week Ordinance is set to take effect on July 1.

Below are details on the new ordinance.

• Covered employers and employees. Applicable to retail businesses with at least 300 employees worldwide, the new ordinance covers employees who qualify for minimum wage and perform at least two hours of work in a workweek.
• Good faith estimate. Covered employers are now required to provide employees with a written, good faith estimate of their work schedule prior to being hired and within 10 days of a current worker’s request.

While the good faith estimate is not a binding contract, “if a retail employee’s actual hours, days, location, or shifts worked substantially deviate from the good-faith estimate of work schedule, the retail employer must have a documented, legitimate business reason, unknown at the time of providing the good-faith estimate of work schedule, to substantiate the deviation.”

A “substantial deviation” occurs when one of the following changes happens in six workweeks out of 12 consecutive workweeks, and the occurrence is not due to a documented retail employee-initiated or approved change:

• the number of actual hours worked differs by 20 percent or more from the expected hours in the good faith estimate of work schedule;
• the actual days of the week worked differ from the expected days of the week indicated in the good faith estimate of work schedule;
• the actual work location differs from the expected work location in the good faith estimate of work schedule; or
• at least one actual shift per week is outside of the potential shifts indicated in the good faith estimate of work schedule.
• Advance notice of work schedule. In addition, employers must provide employees with advance notice of their work schedules at least 14 calendar days before the first day of the schedule. Notice can be provided in person, by posting the schedule in the workplace or electronically. If a change is made by the employer after notice is given, it must be in writing.

The ordinance allows employees to decline any changes to the schedule that would add work hours or shifts that were not included in the original schedule. If an employee accepts a schedule change made less than 14 calendar days before the work period, it must be in writing.

Employees have the right to request certain work hours, times or locations; employers may grant or decline the request as long as they notify the employee of the reason for denial in writing.

• Access to work. Current employees also have right of first refusal, as the ordinance prohibits employers from hiring new workers (including temporary employees and contractors) unless additional work hours and shifts have already been offered to current workers. This requirement applies only to employees that the employer reasonably determines are qualified to perform the available work, however.
• Premium pay. Importantly, employers must provide premium pay when an employee’s schedule changes. When the schedule change results in no loss of time or additional work time exceeding 15 minutes, the employer owes the employee one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of pay.

For changes that result in a loss of work time, the employer must compensate the employee at half of the employee’s regular rate of pay for the lost work time.

Not every change requires premium pay. Employers do not have to pay more where an employee initiates the schedule change, when the employee voluntarily accepts the change initiated by an employer because of another employee’s scheduled absence, when an employee accepts additional hours that were offered by the employer pursuant to the access to hours requirement of the ordinance, when the employee’s hours were decreased due to his or her violation of the law or employer policies, when the employer’s operations are compromised pursuant to law or when extra hours worked would require the payment of overtime.

• Rest between shifts. The ordinance also provides for rest time between shifts. Employees are entitled to at least 10 hours of rest between shifts unless they provide written consent. If a worker does consent to work a shift that starts less than 10 hours after a previous shift, the employee is entitled to time and a half for each hour of the second shift not separated by at least 10 hours.
• Penalties. Violations of the new ordinance could result in penalties paid to both the employee and Los Angeles County. A prevailing employee could be entitled to the payment of minimum wages, the payment of penalties, reinstatement and/or injunctive relief, as well as attorney fees and costs.

A “one-time penalty for each violation” may also be assessed up to $500 per violation of each section of the ordinance, and employers can be liable to the county for administrative fines for each violation of up to $500, increasing up to $1,000 for retaliation against an employee for exercising their rights under the ordinance.

To read the ordinance, click .

Why it matters: With its new ordinance, Los Angeles County joins the ranks of several California cities (including Berkeley, Emeryville, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose), as well as Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle and the state of Oregon. Employers should familiarize themselves with the ordinance and ensure compliance by July 1 or face potential enforcement and penalties.