Advocates fighting against on-call scheduling practices common in many lower-wage industries in Connecticut have returned to the Capitol, following a handful of failed attempts dating back to 2015.
Raised Bill 227 seeks to require employers to provide an employee with his or her scheduled work hours at least 14 days in advance, and proposes financial penalties, and additional compensation for workers, for changes made inside of that window.
The bill’s 14 day notification window is longer than what’s been previously proposed and the current legislation faces significant opposition from employers.
Ahead of a Labor and Public Employees Committee public hearing on Tuesday morning, opposing testimony had been submitted by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) and the National Federation of Independent Business, as well as individual employers and associations representing healthcare facilities, nursing homes, restaurants, retailers, hotels, movie theaters, grocery stores, lumber dealers and staffing firms.
Opponents are arguing that the bill would increase costs, stifle the flexibility they require to respond to often unexpected fluctuations in their business cycles, and could lead to reduced hiring overall.
“This measure erodes the ability of businesses to compete, adding unfair and unnecessary costs and burdens,” CBIA Vice President of Government Affairs Eric Gjede wrote.
Among those who had filed supporting testimony Tuesday morning were major labor unions, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the Connecticut Association for Human Services, Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney (D-New Haven), the National Women’s Law Center, Planned Parenthood, the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, and various service industry workers who reside in Connecticut.
Many of those supporters are members of the Fair Workweek Coalition, which says there are more than 350,000 low-wage hourly shift workers in the state, and that many of them face “unpredictable and erratic” work schedules.
“Employees are often forced to work with little notice, maintain open availability for ‘on-call’ shifts without any guarantee of work and/or pay, and have shifts canceled at the last minute,” the coalition said. “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.”
