Colorado state lawmakers consider mandating workplace schedules

Supporters call it the Fair Workweek Bill. Opponents call it the most restrictive workplace scheduling bill in the country.

Legislation being debated at the Colorado State Capitol would require employers to give workers set shifts and penalize them if they made last-minute changes.

The bill applies to retail and food and beverage companies with 250 or more employees nationwide.

It would require employers to post schedules two weeks in advance, give at least 12 hours between shifts, pay extra if they change a worker's schedule, and offer more hours to part-time workers before hiring new ones.

A full-time student at Metro State University of Denver, Britany Lopez, says juggling school, a job along with an internship is stressful enough without having her employer change her hours last minute.

"There was times where I would go in and it was hard and I was young and no car. I would get to work, work 1 or 2 hours and I would just get sent home. They would say that I was not needed anymore," she said.

While her employer didn't need her, she says, she needed the pay.

Supporters say without predictable schedules, employees can't plan child care, make doctor appointments or pay their bills. They say the bill will reduce turnover and increase productivity. The Colorado Restaurant Association says it would devastate an industry by its very nature is unpredictable.

"It's really going to (be) handcuffs in a sense of being able to have that flexibility with our employees," said Daniel Ramirez, owner of restaurant Los Dos Potrillos.

He says, the way the bill is written he would be penalized if an employee called in sick, didn't show up for their shift or traded a shift. 

"For labs, there might be a certain lab that a teacher might require you to do that you might have to hop up and go. But then again you have the ability to say 'Hey, I missed this day, let's switch tomorrow so I can have a Friday instead of a Thursday,'" he said.

A business couldn't even send workers home early because of a snowstorm without paying a penalty.

While predictability is important, Ramirez says, so too is flexibility. 

"I understand as a 30-year-old, as a cancer survivor that had to go through three rounds of chemo with an unpredictable schedule, because I (didn't) know how I would feel that day and if I had to leave earlier that day or I felt good enough to go to work that day," he said.

Lopez doesn't think a predictable work schedule is too much to ask for.

"I feel this is the bare minimum. We deserve to know when we will go into work the next time," Lopez said.

If the bill passes, Colorado would be only the second state in the country, next to Oregon, to mandate workplace schedules. 

Employers that didn't abide by the provisions of the bill would face fines of $10,000.

A study by Common Sense Institute estimates the bill would drive up costs for businesses between $510,000 to $1,030,000 a year.