Massachusetts already has the highest health insurance costs and the most comprehensive sick leave law in the nation, but the hits against small business owners don’t end there. The state legislature may also be considering a “strict scheduling” proposal in 2015.
Here are the key points:
- The proposal would require 21-day advanced written notice of an employee’s work schedule.
- For any changes made to the schedule within 21 days, workers would be entitled to one hour of additional “predictability pay.”
- Furthermore, when given less than 24 hours’ notice of a shift change, employees would be entitled to a minimum payment of four hours’ work.
- No employers are exempt.
Charlene Conway, owner of two Carousel Family Fun Centers in Fairhaven and Whitman, would be hit hard by this proposal. Her businesses rely on part-time help from high school- and college-age workers, and she already struggles to keep up with the constant adjustments to workers’ schedules based on last-minute bookings of parties and events, not to mention employees’ changing availability. This wildly unrealistic proposal would just create more scheduling headaches and incur more costs for her.
For example, this past winter, Conway was forced to close her business on certain days due to lack of business or inclement weather, and under this proposal, she would have been forced to pay her employees for their time scheduled on these days. Furthermore, last-minute parties are common, and accepting these bookings is great for business, but this proposal would cut into profits if she were forced to call in extra staff help without advance notice.
“Last weekend we had four employees change their schedule, one no-show and one called in sick,” she says. “This is what the small business person deals with on a daily basis, and they still have to operate their businesses and get through the days and shifts. Why is government trying to make our jobs more difficult?”
