OLYMPIA, WA – Lawmakers in Washington State are considering a bill mandating that certain retail and restaurant workers receive two weeks of advance notice and at least 10 hours of rest between closing and opening shifts. In a report published in December 2018, The Shift Project found that 21% of Washington workers reported working a on-call shift, 38% reported working “clopening” shifts, and over half (56%) reported receiving less than two weeks’ advance notice of their work schedule.
Washington’s statewide bill follows in the wake of the City of Seattle’s Secure Scheduling Ordinance, passed in July 2017. Since then, Shift has conducted a worker impact study in Seattle. In December, the study’s Year 1 evaluation results were released in a joint report published by the West Coast Poverty Center at the University of Washington. The report finds that the Seattle law increased the share of workers receiving their schedules at least 14 days in advance by 20%, and more than doubled the share of workers who were compensated with predictability pay when these shift changes did occur.
A recent Seattle Times article noted that some business owners are opposed to secure scheduling legislation.
SB 5717 is sponsored by Sen. Rebecca Saldaña (D-Seattle).