Los Angeles County Approves Fair Workweek Ordinance

The county of Los Angeles' new Fair Workweek Ordinance will take effect on July 1, 2025. 

The Ordinance comes after the city of Los Angeles passed a similar ordinance in 2022 and has the stated purpose of both supporting retail workers in the county by providing fair workweek protections, and promoting the health, safety, and welfare of retail workers by providing more predictable work schedules that ensure stability for them and their families. Generally, the Ordinance requires retail businesses with 300 or more employees globally to follow certain scheduling restrictions. The Ordinance applies to businesses in the North American Industry Classification System within the retail trade categories and subcategories 44 through 45. It covers employees who work at least two hours per workweek within the unincorporated areas of the county of Los Angeles and are entitled to minimum wage under California law.

Among other requirements, the Ordinance requires covered employers to provide covered employees with their work schedules 14 calendar days in advance. The employer must also give an employee notice, by electronic means or another manner reasonably calculated to provide actual notice to each affected employee, if the employer makes changes to the employee's schedule. The employee then has the right to decline any changes, or if the employee agrees to the changes, the employee's consent must be documented.

The Ordinance also requires covered employers to provide employees with a 10-hour non-work period between shifts unless the employer obtains the employee's written consent for a shorter period and pays the employee a premium of time and a half for each hour of the second shift not separated by at least 10 hours. The Ordinance also requires that before hiring a new employee or engaging a contractor or staffing agency to perform work, the company must first offer the work to current employees if one or more current employees is qualified to do the work and the additional work would not result in overtime pay.

Additionally, the Ordinance provides for "predictability pay" when an employer makes changes to an employee's schedule. If a change does not result in the loss of time to the employee or does result in additional work time for the employee that exceeds 15 minutes, the employer must provide one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of pay. If an employer subtracts hours from a shift, changes the start or end time of a shift resulting in a loss of more than 15 minutes, changes the date of a shift, cancels a shift, or schedules the employee for an on-call shift for which the employee is not called in, the employer must pay one-half of that employee's regular rate of pay for the time they do not work.

Covered employers must post a notice informing employees of their rights under the Ordinance. Businesses and individuals with questions regarding Los Angeles County's Fair Workweek Ordinance or California wage and hour laws should contact experienced counsel for guidance on related policies and practices.