A year ago, Angelica Belmont's life seemed chaotic.
She was often called to cover afternoon shifts at a Los Angeles CVS with only a few hours' notice. He often had to close the store at 10 p.m. and open it at 6 a.m. the next day.
Her irregular work schedule interfered with her sleep and often left her scrambling to find someone to pick up her three children from school.
Since last April, she and her family have had more stability, thanks to a new city law that requires large retailers to give their employees their schedules at least two weeks in advance. Los Angeles' Fair Workweek ordinance says any changes within that 14-day period must come with so-called predictability pay. Companies must also give employees at least 10 hours of rest between shifts or provide them with additional pay for that work.
Currently, Belmont knows its schedule three weeks in advance. For a change with less than two weeks' notice, she earns an additional hour of pay at her regular rate of $18.78. If she agrees to work consecutive shifts, she earns time and a half for the second shift.
She and her partner now coordinate school pick-ups, and she schedules appointments for Tuesdays and Wednesdays, her days off.
“I need to have a set schedule for my kids; it's just important,” Belmont, 35, said. “I just like the stability this has brought to my life.”
CVS strives to “ensure our employees receive sufficient information and predictability in their work schedules,” company spokesman Matt Blanchette said in a written statement.
Employees in lower-wage industries are increasingly at the mercy of scheduling algorithms designed to maximize efficiency and minimize labor costs. When staffing doesn't match expected customer demand, workers may be called in at the last minute or sent home early.
Workers are forced to fit their lives around their shifts, juggling childcare, school, medical appointments and family time. Unpredictable work schedules lead to unstable income, as well as poor sleep and psychological distress, researchers from the Shift Project, a Harvard University and UC San Francisco initiative focused on service sector workers, have found.
Los Angeles is among several cities across the country, including Seattle, New York and Chicago, that have adopted schedule laws, part of a growing recognition that schedules are as important to well-being as living wages and benefits. disease.
Of the more than 147,000 retail workers in Los Angeles, More than three-quarters were people of color and nearly two-thirds earned low wages.according to a report by the UCLA Labor Center and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which was based on 2016 census data.
Under Los Angeles law, which applies to retail chains with more than 300 employees worldwide, an employee must notify his or her employer of any violation. If the employer does not correct the alleged violation within 15 days, the employee can file a complaint with the city's Office of Wage Standards.
An employer found to have violated the law must pay the employee a one-time fine of up to $500 for each violation. He must also pay the city up to $50 for each day the predictability payment was unlawfully withheld.
The city began enforcing the law in October after a six-month educational period. The city is investigating two reports related to the law and three others to see if further investigation is required, according to Oliver Hall, spokesman for the Department of Public Works.
“Workers know they have recourse, and this provides employers with a standard they can adhere to,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price, who proposed the law. “This has been a really important step in ensuring that everyone is treated fairly and equitably, and that those who provide services that we all benefit from are treated fairly.”
Anecdotally, the city's enforcement of the law appears to be uneven right now, said Amardeep Gill, director of the grocery and retail campaign for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which pushed for the ordinance.
“Any policy as big as this… takes some time,” he said, comparing the implementation of the policy to that of minimum wage increases.
Gill's team has gone to shopping centers to talk to retail workers, especially those who are not union members. They have heard that some employers are complying with the law. Others do not inform workers about the pay predictability provision and, he said, are “doing everything in their power to not comply.”
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles County Business Federation, California Retailers Association. and the California Grocers Association. did not provide comment for this story.
Some companies say they need the ability to adjust their staffing, for example for unforeseen sporting events or bad weather, said Kristen Harknett, a UC San Francisco sociology professor who studies the working conditions of hourly employees in the service sector.
But the laws don't “limit employers from calling people at the last minute,” Harknett said. “It's just that you have to pay them a little more when you do it.”
And there is at least one clear benefit for employers, said Harknett, who is also principal investigator for Project Shift.
“When schedules are more consistent and predictable, employees stay and are more loyal, and that benefits the company,” he said.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on a similar calendar ordinance in April, according to Lenée Richards, spokeswoman for Supervisor Holly Mitchell.
“These protections help strengthen our workforce and will enable employees, many of whom are low-income people from communities of color, to better care for their families and themselves by having greater control and predictability over their own schedules. “Mitchell said in a letter. statement.
Meanwhile, Jasmine Brandon, a 30-year-old part-time employee at Food4Less in the unincorporated community of Willowbrook in Los Angeles County, must check an app or visit the store on Friday afternoons to find out her schedule for the next week. She earns $17 an hour and does not work fixed days or shifts.
A Food4Less representative did not respond to a request for comment.
Sometimes Brandon closes the store and other times she opens it. Occasionally, she works those back-to-back shifts, picking up her 2-year-old son from daycare and traveling by bus or rideshare.
You constantly feel tired and stressed. Because her schedule is constantly changing, she is unable to schedule medical appointments for her son and her teenage daughter, nor a regular therapy appointment for herself.
“There is no consistency at all,” he said. “You have to practically adapt to their schedule.”
This article is part of the Times' equity reporting initiative, focusing on the challenges faced by low-income workers and the efforts being made to address them The economic division in California. More information about the initiative and its financier, the James Irvine FoundationIt can be found here.
