Fair Work Week Compliance – IMPORTANT

As we begin this new year, we would like to remind Employers and Employee of important components of the Fair Workweek Ordinance that became effective on January 1, 2021. These new provisions require “Safety-net hospitals” to abide by the Fair Workweek Ordinance and allow for any employee covered by the Ordinance to independently file a civil action in court for violations.

As of January 1, 2021, “Safety-net hospitals” are required to abide by the provisions of the FairWorkweek Ordinance. This includes all provisions of the Ordinance, such as advance notice of workschedules, predictability pay for changes to shifts and hours, and a worker’s right to decline hours occurring less than 10 hours after the end of the previous day’s shift, among other requirements.

As of January 1, 2021, employees may bring a civil action for violations of Fair Workweek, but only after the Office of Labor Standards has investigated and resolved their complaint. The employee may only bring such a civil action after the Office of Labor Standards has notified the employee and their employer that the complaint has been closed. An employee’s civil action must be initiated within two years of the alleged violation.

As a reminder, on July 20, 2020, the Commissioner of BACP promulgated COVID-19 Pandemic Rule which is a limited exception that applies during the pandemic. For those Employers that are subject to the Fair Workweek Ordinance, if there is a Work Schedule change “because” of the pandemic then the Employer would have a limited exception to payment of predictability pay.

For more information on Fair Workweek, visit the Office of Labor Standards website’s Fair Workweekpage.

For more resources, visit the Office of Labor Standards education page.