On August 8th, 2017, Oregon governor Kate Brown signed the Oregon Predictive Scheduling Law which went took effect in July of 2018. The legislation was updated in 2020, with an extended notice period of 14 days as opposed to seven days. Oregon’s Predictive Scheduling Law is meant to protect employees against last-minute scheduling changes that could negatively impact their income.
Oregon Predictive Scheduling Law
While the Oregon Predictive Scheduling Law applies to all employees in the state that work at companies in the retail, hospitality, or food services industries with 500 or more employees. Predictive scheduling was created with the primary intention of giving employees who need to care for children or other family members a chance to allocate their time appropriately, without sacrificing shifts and the opportunity to work.
Employers must display an Oregon Predictive Scheduling Labor Law Poster that gives notice of the employee's rights and responsibilities as a result of the predictive scheduling law in an easily visible and accessible location at every workplace.
Predictive scheduling in Oregon is a complicated compliance task, and one made much easier by an Oregon Scheduling Software Solution, which can help ensure compliance while controlling labor costs and maintaining productivity.
Oregon Predictive Scheduling Requirements
When it comes to predictive scheduling in Oregon, there are some requirements that employers should be aware of.
Oregon Work Schedule Laws (Written Work Schedules)
As of July 1st, 2020, employers must provide a written work schedule to their employees 14 days in advance of the first day included in the schedule, according to predictive scheduling law.
The written work schedule must be displayed in an easily visible and accessible location, at every location owned by the business or company and where work is performed. It also must include all regular work shifts, as well as any on-call shifts.
Oregon Schedule Changes
Employees may decline shifts that are not included in the written work schedule.
Employer Penalties and Violating Oregon Predictive Scheduling Law
Employers must pay employees one additional hour at the regular hourly rate of pay, in addition to any wages earned during the shift when:
- An employer adds more than 30 minutes of work to an employee’s shift.
- An employer changes the date, start time, or end time of an employee’s work shift without reducing the number of hours they are scheduled to work.
- Example: An employee is scheduled to work from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and then is moved to 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
- An employer schedules an employee for an additional standard work shift or an additional on-call shift.
Example of Predictive Scheduling Penalty: If an employee works an eight-hour shift, at $10 an hour, but one of the above conditions is broken, the employee would earn $90 for the shift as opposed to $80. If any employee works more than an additional 30 minutes in a shift, they would receive 80$, plus regular compensation for the additional time, plus an extra $10 on top of that.
Employers must pay employees half their regular rate of pay, per hour, for each scheduled hour that an employee does not work when:
- An employer subtracts hours from your work shift before or after the employee reports for duty.
- An employer changes the date, start time, or end time of your shift, resulting in a loss of hours from a shift.
- An employer cancels your shift.
- An employer does not ask you to perform work when you are scheduled for an on-call shift.
Example of Predictive Scheduling Penalty: An employee, who makes $10 per hour, reports to work and finds out their shift has been cut from eight to six hours, they would receive $70 for the shift as opposed to $60 ($60 for the hours worked, and $5 for each hour they didn’t).
It's important to avoid any penalties for non-compliance, as such penalties can lead to higher labor costs, and a more strenuous task when processing payroll in Oregon.
What Is the Voluntary Standby List?
Employers may maintain a voluntary standby list of employees who are willing to work additional hours due to unanticipated customer needs or unexpected absences. Employees must request or agree in writing to be on the list in accordance with predictive scheduling law.
Employers must also notify each employee in writing:
- That the list is voluntary.
- How to be removed from the list.
- How the employer will notify employees, who are on the list, of additional hours and how to accept them.
- Employers can notify employees via: in-person, a phone call, an email, a text message, or any other electronic or written format.
- That the employee is not required to accept the additional hours that have been offered.
- That an employee on the standby list is not eligible for the additional compensation outlined by the requirements of this law, as a result of accepting additional hours as a result of being on the list.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries has put together a voluntary standby list template that you can access here.
Employee Right to Input into Their Work Schedule Under Oregon Predictive Scheduling
Employees are allowed to identify any changes that they would like to make to their work schedule. They are also allowed to identify any limitations to their availability in their work schedule.
While it is illegal for employers to retaliate against employees for these types of requests, they are under no obligation to approve the request.
Disapproval of the request is not considered retaliation against an employee.
Minimum Time Between Shifts in Oregon Under Predictive Scheduling
Unless requested by, or approved by the employee, an employer may not schedule a worker to work during the first ten hours following the end of a previous shift. Whether the shift is a standard work shift or an on-call shift.
No matter what, if an employee is scheduled for a back-to-back shift within ten hours of their previous shift, they must be compensated at time-and-a-half their normal pay rate.
Oregon Predictive Scheduling Requirements Upon Hire
Employers are required to provide new employees with a written “good faith estimate” of the work schedule.
The “good faith estimate” must include:
- The median number of hours the employee is expected to work in an average month.
- An explanation of the voluntary standby list.
- Whether an employee that is not on the standby list will be expected to work on-call shifts, and if so, how that process works.
- And may be based on the schedule from the prior year.
Oregon Predictive Scheduling Additional Information
Employees can make a complaint here if they believe their employer is violating this law. If you need more information or have any questions regarding predictive scheduling, you can contact the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), here.
BOLI also has an employee predictive scheduling FAQ as well as an employer predictive scheduling FAQ.
For more information on Oregon labor laws, you can click here.
Complying with laws, such as the Oregon Predictive Scheduling Law, can be time-consuming for your business. With GNSA’s cloud-based automated time & labor management solution, it’s never been easier. Let GNSA help you with predictive scheduling, so you can get back to what makes your business tick.
