The Philadelphia Fair Workweek Ordinance adds scheduling and pay requirements for certain food service, retail and hospitality employers. The ordinance was originally scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. It will now be enforced beginning June 1, 2021.
Employer Coverage:
The ordinance applies to certain food services, hospitality, and retail establishments, including certain franchises, with 250 or more employees and 30 or more global locations, including a location in Philadelphia.
Employee Coverage:
Covered employees include all non-exempt full-time, part-time, seasonal and temporary employees who provide retail trade services, food services or hospitality services at a covered employer in Philadelphia.
Employer Requirements:
Covered employers must follow certain rules, a summary of which is provided below.
Notices & Records:
- Display a poster of the Fair Workweek law;
- Keep records demonstrating compliance for at least two years;
- Provide written copies upon request of all original or modified schedules for every employee at that location for any previous week over the last two years;
- Post written schedule notices which contain the days, times, and shifts employees should and should not expect to work or be on-call, as well as the methods the employer uses when assigning shifts. This information must be posted in an accessible, customary, and conspicuous location.
Scheduling:
- When developing work schedules, consider employee preferences, including undesired locations and times;
- Allow employees nine hours of rest time between shifts;
- Allow employees to decline rest time without penalty;
- For any rest time worked, collect a written statement of consent from employees and pay the employee $40 for each rest-time shift worked;
- Provide employees with a written schedule at least 14 days in advance.
Schedule Changes:
- Notify employees of a schedule change as soon as possible prior to the change;
- Write and post all amended schedules within 24 hours of the change; and
- Allow employees to accept or refuse any hours or shifts that aren't posted.
Note: Employees must provide their written consent to work unposted hours.
Predictability Pay:
When an employer changes a posted schedule with less than 14 days' notice (including extending a shift or changing the date, time or location of a shift without loss of hours), they must pay affected employees one hour of predictability pay at an employee's regular rate of pay. If an employee cannot work because their employer cancels a regular or on-call shift or reduces their regular hours, the employer must be paid a half-hour of predictability pay at the employee's regular rate of pay.
Covered employers do not have to pay predictability pay when an employee requests a schedule change in writing or for an employee who starts or ends work less than 20 minutes before or after their scheduled start and end times.
New Hire Scheduling:
On or before an employee's start date, employers must provide new hires with a written schedule of the average number of hours the employer expects them to work over a 90-day period. The schedule should align with the currently posted schedule, state any on-call shifts, and include days, times, and shifts an employee should and should not expect to work.
Assigning Open Shifts:
Employers must offer shifts to qualified, current employees at that location before new employees are hired for that shift. Employers that require employees at other locations to be considered before offering new hire's the shift must maintain that practice.
Employers may fill an open shift with an external hire if:
- They provide written notice at least 72 hours in advance of the available shift (unless the open shift is required to be filled sooner), and no qualified employee accepts the open shift within 24 hours following the 72 hour notice period; or
- Failing to hire the external employee would force an employer to pay overtime to an employee at another location to cover the work.
Compliance Recommendations
Covered employers should review the ordinance and their existing scheduling practices to ensure compliance by June 1, 2021. Please contact your dedicated service professional with any questions.