Punching In: Labor Agency Revisits Predictive Scheduling Policy

Monday morning musings for workplace watchers.

DOL Exploring Scheduling Rules|Will SECURE Act 2.0 Happen?

Rebecca Rainey: The Biden administration is taking a closer look at fair scheduling policies, hosting a roundtable last week at the Department of Labor that included workers, lawmakers, and industry representatives.

Led by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, panelists included Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who has backed legislation to require employers to give their workers more advanced notice of when they’re required to work, and &pizza CEO and co-founder Michael Lastoria. Discussions focused on the challenges of workers being able to attend medical appointments for themselves and family members without a guaranteed and predictable work schedule, particularly post-pandemic.

Unstable scheduling “hurts workers and also limits the potential in our economy. It holds us back as a nation, and we have to certainly address this issue,” Walsh said during the Oct. 6 event. “This is part of the ongoing dialogue that we’re having here at the Department of Labor and quite honestly, across the government and across the country.”

DeLauro used the event to promote her “Schedules That Work Act,” which would create federal requirements for certain industries to provide schedules two weeks in advance, mandatory rest periods in between shifts, and compensate employees when there are abrupt scheduling changes.

Fair scheduling or “fair workweek” policies have gained traction on the state and local level in recent years, and have become an extension of the labor protections Democrats are fighting for in Congress.

Currently there’s no federal requirement for employers to provide notice of work schedules, meaning the DOL has limited jurisdiction over scheduling issues. But an agency spokesperson said the administration is trying to address the issue by incorporating its “Good Jobs” principles—a series of job quality standards developed by the DOL and Commerce Department that include predictable scheduling—into federal investment opportunities.

In the absence of a national rule, at least seven cities and one state have implemented laws requiring businesses to give workers notice of their work schedule, and similar laws are being considered in Los Angeles and Connecticut, according to the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., for example, reached a $20 million settlement with New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection this summer over violations of the city’s fair scheduling and sick leave laws.

READ MORE:

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Scheduling Laws Take a Bite Out of Profits, Restaurants Say

A customer exits a Chipotle restaurant in San Francisco, Calif., on April 19, 2021. San Francisco is one of several cities with a predictive scheduling law in place.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Austin R. Ramsey: Midterm elections and political theater on Capitol Hill could derail legislation affecting workplace retirement plans.

As stocks take a plunge, bringing US retirement account balances with them, Republican lawmakers are positioning retirement policy as a last-minute political cudgel ahead of the November election. That move threatens to sour negotiations over SECURE Act 2.0 legislation already slowed by a congressional calendar marred by holiday recesses and infighting over the federal budget.

“The rhetoric is getting worse as we approach the midterms,” American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff told attendees at a 403(b) plan adviser conference last week.

Lawmakers on the campaign trail are blaming President Joe Biden and his administration’s economic policies for dreary market returns and inflation-fueled spending power losses among pensioners, hoping to drum up support among older Americans at the polls.

Moreover, workers’ retirement confidence has been falling since the start of the year, according to a Bank of America Corp. benefits report. Just over half of American workers are confident they will be able to reach their retirement goals, down from nearly 70% since February, the firm reported.

Retirement policy tends to be a legal area singularly isolated from political pressure. SECURE Act 2.0 was supposed to be an opportunity to build on bipartisan success legislators achieved under the original SECURE Act in 2019. Graff and others are waiting with baited breath to see if the bill could make it across the finish line during the waning lame duck days of the session later this year.

The 2019 SECURE Act was packaged into a 2020 consolidated appropriations act, and proponents believe SECURE Act 2.0 could merit inclusion in the must-pass government spending bill in December.

And there’s reason to be optimistic, despite congressional infighting.

“In a Congress often dominated by partisanship and political polarization, retirement policy remains one of the few issues with broad bipartisan support,” John McCool, a senior director at the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, said in an emailed statement.

A House version of the bill that passed 114-5 in March would help small employers offer retirement plans by giving them a tax credit, automatically enroll employees in 401(k) plans while giving them a chance to decline, and enable older workers to contribute a larger amount to their retirement as part of catch-up savings.

The Senate Finance and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees rubber-stamped a pair of bills in June that complement that legislation. The two committee proposals in the Senate are expected to be combined to become the chamber’s formal response to the House’s SECURE Act 2.0 bill.

We’re punching out. Daily Labor Report subscribers, please check in for updates during the week, and feel free to reach out to us.