More employers decided to stop On-Call scheduling for their workers after attorneys general from eight states and the District of Columbia urged 15 national retailers to drop the practice.
Led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the state AGs joined together to attack the practice, where employees are expected to call their employer an hour or two before a scheduled shift to find out if they will work that day.
Six of the targeted retailers – including Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap, J.Crew, Urban Outfitters and Pier 1 Imports – agreed to stop the practice, covering about 50,000 employees throughout the United States, Schneiderman notes.
Four of them also said they will supply employees with work schedules at least one week in advance.
Nine of the employers said they either never used on-call scheduling or had already stopped doing so: American Eagle, BCBG Max Azria, Coach, Forever 21, Justice: Just for Girls, Payless, Tilly's, Inc., Uniqlo and Vans.
In the AGs’ letter to the employers, they asserted that On-Call scheduling takes a toll on employees, resulting in “higher incidences of adverse health effects, overall stress and strain on family life.”
Last April similar letters were sent to national retailers by New York’s Schneiderman and the AGs of California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Rhode Island.
“On-call shifts are not a business necessity and should be a thing of the past,” Schneiderman points out. “People should not have to keep the day open, arrange for child care and give up other opportunities without being compensated for their time.”