11.05.2019

WASHINGTON, DC -- This morning, Representative Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) introduced the Schedules that Work Act to provide predictable work hours for hourly employees in low-wage industries. The bill comes just weeks after Congress held a worker roundtable with the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, the Center for Popular Democracy, United for Respect and the National Women’s Law Center that highlighted the impact of unstable work hours on families in the United States. Senator Elizabeth (D-MA) is expected to release a corresponding version in the Senate soon.

In response, the Center For Popular Democracy, one of the organizations present that day, shared the following statement. 

“A few weeks ago, people from across the country traveled to Congress to share how detrimental unstable work hours have been to their financial security and family relationships. The Schedules that Work Act would update federal work-hours standards for the first time since the 1930s, to match the demands of today’s workweek. We have fought so hard in New York, Seattle, Chicago, and other cities to secure Fair Workweek protections. Today, we celebrate a strong step toward extending these protections to all workers in the United States. Just as important, the STWA signals to the millions of brown and black women who are disproportionately burdened by unstable schedules that our elected representatives are committed to fight for racial and economic equity” said Rachel Deutsch with the Center for Popular Democracy’s Fair Workweek Initiative.

As introduced, the Schedules that Work Act requires employers in the retail, food service, cleaning, hospitality and warehouse sectors to provide two weeks’ advance notice of work schedules and compensate workers for employer-initiated schedule changes. The bill would also protect workers’ right to input into work schedules and at least eleven hours of nightly rest between work shifts. 

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