Oregon Passes Pioneering Worker-Rights Bill

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Huffington Post

06/30/2017 05:15 pm ET

It will be the first state to mandate predictable work schedules.
By Daniel Marans


Oregon has approved legislation with bipartisan support mandating predictable work schedules for low-wage employees, making it the first state in the country to adopt the labor protection.

A bill approved by the state House Thursday and previously passed by the state Senate on bipartisan lines requires large employers in the food service, retail and hospitality industries to provide advance scheduling notice to their workers. It intends to guarantee workers greater freedom to plan their lives and spend time with family.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) plans to sign the measure in the coming weeks after a legal review, a spokesman said. The law will take effect in July 2018.

“Especially at this moment in the country, when Congress is trying to strip overtime protections and take us backward, it is inspiring to see policymakers in Oregon take this bold measure to finally update workplace standards for the realities of today’s work week,” said Carrie Gleason, director of the Center for Popular Democracy’s Fair Workweek initiative.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oregon-worker-rights-schedule_us_5956b479e4b02734df325c0c?section=us_politics

[cstanleytech]

1. This needs to make it into the federal labor laws imo. nt

[Doreen]

2. I remember when I worked for Walmart years ago and

that the schedule was all over the place so there was no way in hell you could get another job to actually barely survive. They did schedule you but there were a lot of times when they would change it and not tell you. You had to look at the schedule at the end of every shift because they might change it while you were working and you had some trouble when they changed it after your shift. I walked in one day when it was supposed to be my day off per schedule I checked the night before I left and they came up and said I was supposed to be working and got yelled at for not having the correct clothes on. I told them I had written it down the night before and they said I wrote the wrong thing. Walmart is an evil company. I hope this bill will prevent this type of thing.

[NYC Liberal]

3. Good! We passed a similar law here in NY last month.

http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/372-17/mayor-de-blasio-speaker-mark-viverito-that-new-york-city-the-largest-city-end#/0

[Matthew28]

4. Glad to live in a sane state

[Massacure]

5. Overall I think the law is good

I support the requirement to inform employees of scheduled work one week before hand. I have mixed feelings about upping it to two weeks in 2020. I used to work retail, and every Monday the schedule was posted for the following week. Requests for time off had to be submitted one week before the schedule was posted. I think that was fair.

I definitely love the rule requiring 10 hours of rest between shifts though. Closing up shop at 10:00pm and then opening at 6:00am the next morning was the pits.

[FakeNoose]

6. This is absolutely a step in the right direction

The fast-food, entertainment and retail industries have made their employees lives' hell for many years over this.

I hope this law goes nationwide - and soon.