Sec. 1. Short title; findings

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This Act may be cited as the . Schedules That Work Act Congress finds the following: The vast majority of the United States workforce today is juggling responsibilities at home and at work. Women are primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in 64 percent of families in the United States. Despite the dual responsibilities of today's workforce, both hourly and salaried workers often have little ability to make changes to their work schedules when those changes are needed to accommodate family responsibilities.

Mothers working in low-wage jobs are more likely to be the primary or sole breadwinner for their families than mothers working in higher-wage jobs. For example, nearly 7 in 10 mothers in the one-fifth of households in the United States with the lowest incomes bring home all or most of their families’ income, compared to less than one-third of their counterparts in the highest-income quintile. At the same time, low-wage workers have the least control over their work schedules and the most unpredictable schedules.

Across industries, more than half (55 percent) of low-paid hourly workers report that they receive a week or less of notice of their work schedules, and nearly two-thirds (65 percent) report that their employer controls the timing of their work hours. In some industries, just-in-time scheduling practices, which base workers' schedules on perceived consumer demand to minimize labor costs, are particularly common. Employers using these practices often post work schedules with little notice, vary work hours widely from week to week, cancel shifts at the last minute, and schedule employees for on call shifts (requiring an employee to call in to work to find out whether the employee will have to work later that day) or clopening shifts (requiring an employee to work a closing shift at night followed by an opening shift a few hours later).

For example, surveys of nearly 30,000 hourly workers employed by the 80 largest retail and food service chains in the United States show that— about two-thirds of hourly retail and food service workers receive their work schedules with less than 2 weeks’ advance notice; more than one in 4 hourly retail and food service workers have been scheduled for on-call shifts, and half have worked clopening shifts; and only one in 5 hourly retail and food service workers report working a regular daytime schedule.

Unfair work scheduling practices make it difficult for low-wage workers to— provide necessary care for children and other family members, including securing and maintaining stable child care; access and receive needed care for the workers’ own serious health conditions; pursue workforce training; get or keep a second job, which many workers need to make ends meet; plan for and access transportation to reach worksites; and qualify for and maintain eligibility for needed public benefits and work supports, such as child care subsidies and benefits under the supplemental nutrition assistance program, due to fluctuations in income and work hours.

A growing body of research demonstrates that unstable and unpredictable work schedules have significant detrimental impacts on sleep quality, mental health, and happiness, and are associated with unstable child care arrangements and negative health and behavioral outcomes for children. These work schedules—and the work-family conflict they produce—are also associated with higher rates of turnover, which creates further instability for employers and workers. Workers of color are also more likely than their White counterparts, even compared to White coworkers at the same company, to experience unstable work schedules.

For example: Unstable work schedules lead to more household economic strain and time conflicts, and hurt the well-being of parents. While household economic strain, time conflicts, and the well-being of parents may all negatively impact the health and behavior of a child, a parent's well-being is the most significant factor in determining the behavior and health outcomes of a child. The more severe the work schedule instability, the worse the child's behavior and health outcomes.

The exposure of a parent to on-call shifts and last-minute shift changes are associated with more unstable child care arrangements and with the use of siblings to provide care. Work schedule instability causes more work-family conflict, which increases the chance that a worker will be forced to leave his or her job. This turnover is associated with downward mobility of the worker's earnings. Relative to White workers, workers of color are more likely to— have cancelled shifts; have on-call shifts; be involuntary part-time workers; have trouble getting time off; and work clopening shifts, as described in paragraph (3)(B).

The statistics described in clause

(i)remain true after controlling for demographics, human capital, worker power, firm segregation, and discordance with the race or ethnicity of the worker and the manager. Race gaps in job quality are greater for women of color. Workers who receive shorter advanced notice, those who work on-call shifts, those who experience last minute shift cancellation and timing changes, and those with more volatile work hours are more likely to experience hunger, residential hardships, and more overall economic hardship. Unpredictable and unstable work schedules are common in a wide range of occupations, with evidence of particular concentration in food service, retail, cleaning, hospitality, and warehouse occupations. These occupations are critically important to the United States economy. Employers that have implemented fair work scheduling policies that allow workers to have more control over their work schedules, and provide more predictable and stable schedules, have experienced significant benefits, including reductions in absenteeism and workforce turnover, and increased worker morale and engagement. For example, when Gap Inc. piloted strategies to make work schedules more stable and predictable for employees, the Gap Inc. stores that implemented these strategies experienced higher productivity, and a 7-percent increase in sales, compared to those Gap Inc. stores that did not implement these strategies. This Act is a first step in responding to the needs of workers for a voice in the timing of their work hours and for more predictable schedules.