Seattle restaurant worker shares her opposition to restrictive scheduling bills

Feb 20, 2019
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Written by wpengine
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A Seattle restaurant worker has expressed worry about state bills dictating retail scheduling in a new Seattle Times opinion piece.

Simone Barron writes that Seattle’s restrictive scheduling law has caused worry about lost work hours and financial penalties on employers unable to lock in on schedules posted two weeks in advance. She also notes that HB 1491 and SB 5717 currently under consideration in the state Legislature apply to companies with more than 100 worldwide employees while the Seattle law applies only to larger companies with more than 500 worldwide employees.

“The hospitality industry doesn’t need to be saved from bad scheduling practices,” Barron writes. “If anything, it needs to be saved from politicians who want to make it harder for employees to go to work and live their lives.”

The Seattle law discourages hiring by giving preference to existing employees to fill needed additional hours and fines companies that find it necessary to adjust schedules after they are posted. Washington Retail opposes the bills because they compromise customer service and restrict management and employees from adjusting to a series of professional and personal demands.

Barron writes that hospitality workers enjoy flexible schedules that allow them to adjust hours around their lives outside of work. Flexibility also allows restaurant managers to adjust schedules for the ebb and flow of customers visiting their establishments, or for weather-related effects.

Seattle Times subscribers can read the full opinion piece here.