HR6786-119

What This Bill Does

The Schedules That Work Act creates a federal workplace scheduling framework. It lets employees request schedule changes involving hours, on-call time, work location, advance notice, and reduced fluctuations, and requires employers to engage in a timely good-faith interactive process. Requests tied to serious health conditions, caregiving, education or training, a second job, transportation, public benefit coordination, or other protected reasons receive stronger treatment unless the employer has a bona fide business reason. For covered sector employees in retail, food service, cleaning, hospitality, warehouse, and later-designated occupations, employers must provide schedules 14 days in advance, pay $75 per day for missing schedules, provide predictability pay for late changes, give monthly minimum-hours estimates, offer extra hours to existing qualified employees before hiring new workers, pay split-shift compensation, and respect an 11-hour rest period unless the employee gives written consent and receives 1.5 times pay for the short-rest hours. The bill bans retaliation, gives the Secretary of Labor FLSA-style investigative and subpoena powers, creates damages, civil penalties, equitable relief, and private rights of action, requires workplace notices, directs regulations within 180 days, preserves stronger laws and collective bargaining rights, and exempts covered collective bargaining agreements that expressly waive the Act.

Who Benefits and How

Hourly and low-wage workers benefit because they can request stable schedules and, in covered sectors, receive advance notice, predictability pay, split-shift pay, and rest between shifts. Parents, caregivers, students, workers with second jobs, workers with health conditions, and workers dependent on public benefits or transportation benefit from stronger protections when schedule instability disrupts family, school, medical, benefit, or transit needs. Covered sector employees benefit from extra-hours offer rules before employers hire additional staff. Workers enforcing rights benefit from anti-retaliation protections, damages, civil penalties, and private lawsuits.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Retail, food service, hospitality, cleaning, warehouse, and other covered employers must change scheduling systems, run interactive processes, provide written responses, post notices, keep records, pay predictability or rest-period premiums, offer hours to current staff, and defend decisions with bona fide business reasons. The Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division must investigate, issue regulations, create guidance, run education and research programs, and enforce penalties. Employers face damages, equitable relief, civil penalties, and private litigation exposure. Federal labor agencies and covered congressional or transportation workplace administrators must adapt parallel regulations and enforcement systems.

Key Provisions

• Establishes an employee right to request flexible, predictable, or stable work schedules.
• Requires covered sector employers to provide 14-day schedule notice, monthly hours estimates, predictability pay, and split-shift pay.
• Provides an 11-hour rest period between shifts unless employees consent in writing and receive 1.5 times pay.
• Prohibits retaliation for exercising scheduling rights or participating in proceedings.
• Authorizes Labor Department investigations, damages, civil penalties, equitable relief, and private lawsuits.
• Requires notices, regulations, research, education, technical assistance, and preservation of stronger employee protections.