San Francisco has amended the city’s Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance (FFWO), which applies to employers with 20 or more employees. The changes are effective July 12, 2022.
The Details:
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Current Law
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Effective July 12, 2022
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An employee who has been employed with an employer for six months or more and works at least eight hours per week on a regular basis may request a flexible or predictable working arrangement to assist with caregiving responsibilities for: 1) a child or children for whom the employee has assumed parental responsibility, 2) a person or persons with a serious health condition in a family relationship with the employee, or 3) a parent age 65 or older.
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Unless it would impose an undue hardship on the employer (see below), an employee who has been employed with an employer for six months or more must be permitted a flexible or predictable working arrangement to assist with caregiving responsibilities for: 1) a child or children for whom the employee has assumed parental responsibility, 2) a person or persons with a serious health condition in a family relationship with the employee, or 3) a person or persons age 65 or older in a family relationship with the employee.
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To be covered, an employee must: (1) be employed in San Francisco, (2) for six months or more by their current employer, and (3) working at least eight hours per week on a regular basis.
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Teleworking employees are also considered to be working within the city and therefore entitled to such arrangements, provided the covered employer maintains an office or worksite within the geographic boundaries of the city at which the employee may work, or prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, was permitted to work.
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Types of Flexible or Predictable Working Arrangements:
Under the amended ordinance, the arrangements may include but aren’t limited to a change in:
· The employee’s terms and conditions of employment as they relate to the number of hours the employee is required to work, such as part-time work, part-year employment, or job-sharing arrangements.
· The employee’s work schedule, such as modified hours, variable hours, predictable hours, or other schedule changes or flexibilities.
· The employee’s work location, such as telework.
· The employee’s work assignments or duties.
Undue Hardship:
An employer may deny a flexible or predictable working arrangement that would be acceptable to the employee only if granting such an arrangement would cause the employer undue hardship by way of significant expense or operational difficulty when considered in relation to the size, financial resources, nature or structure of the employer's business.
Basis for undue hardship may include, but aren’t limited to, the following:
· The identifiable costs directly caused by flexible or predictable working arrangement, including but not limited to the cost of productivity loss, retraining or hiring employees, or transferring employees from one facility to another facility.
· Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer or client demands.
· Inability to organize work among other employees.
· Insufficiency of work to be performed during the time or at the location the employee proposes to work.
An employer must explain any denial in a written response to the employee that sets out the basis for the denial and notifies the employee of the right to request reconsideration by the employer and the right to file a complaint, and include a copy of the FFWO Notice.
An employer that doesn’t agree to a flexible or predictable working arrangement must engage in an interactive process with the employee to attempt in good faith to determine an arrangement that is acceptable to both the employee and employer.
Next Steps:
If you are a covered employer:
· Read the amended ordinance in full for other details, including procedures and timeframes for responding to employees seeking flexible or predictable working arrangement.
· Train supervisors on how to respond to employees who ask for such arrangements.