EMPLOYMENT LAW NEWS
By Dana Holle
Updated July 2025
Fair Workweek laws, also known as predictive scheduling, require certain employers to provide advance notice of work schedules and offer additional worker protections aimed at improving work-life balance. This blog outlines the jurisdictions with active laws, key employer requirements, and the growing trend of local regulations across the U.S.
Oregon was the first state to pass a predictive scheduling law. Unlike other employment law trends, other states have not followed suit, though New Hampshire and Vermont have less involved scheduling-related laws.
In Oregon, the predictive scheduling law applies to employers in the retail, hospitality and food industries with 500 or more employees worldwide. The law requires employers to:
While it’s just Oregon at this point, other states have considered predictive scheduling laws, including Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina and Rhode Island.
Chicago’s Fair Workweek Ordinance, which took effect on July 1, 2020, applies to employers with 100 or more employees (50 of whom must be considered covered employees) in seven covered industries:
As of July 1, 2025, employees are covered if they make equal to or less than $32.60 an hour or $62,561.90 a year.
Employers must post the work schedule 14 days in advance. The ordinance gives employees:
Find more information on Chicago’s FAQs page for the Fair Workweek Ordinance.
Just north of Chicago, Evanston’s City Council passed its Fair Workweek Ordinance back in 2023, which then took effect on Jan. 1, 2024. The ordinance applies to employers with 100 or more employees in the following covered industries:
Also covered by the ordinance are employers in the Food Service and Restaurant industries that have 30 locations globally and at least 200 employees.
It further includes franchisees with fewer than 100 employees but are associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that have more than 30 locations globally.
Under the ordinance, employers are required to provide covered employees:
More information can be found under the Essential Documents tab on Evanston’s Fair Workweek website.
Berkeley’s Fair Workweek Ordinance was operational on Jan. 12, 2024. It applies to employers with 10 or more employees in the city that:
Similar to other local jurisdictions in California, Berkeley requires employers to provide:
Possibly taking the crown as the most employee-friendly city in the U.S., Emeryville, Calif., has a predictive scheduling law, which it calls the Fair Workweek Ordinance.
It applies to retail companies with 56 or more employees globally, and fast food businesses with 56 or more employees globally and 20 or more workers in Emeryville.
Under the Emeryville Fair Workweek Ordinance, employers must provide work schedules two weeks in advance, as well as:
The ordinance went into full effect, including enforcement and fines, in 2018.
The Los Angeles Fair Work Week Ordinance went into effect April 1, 2023. It covers employers of retail businesses with 300 or more employees globally and employees who work at least 2 hours in a particular week within the City of Los Angeles for a covered employer.
Covered employers are required to provide their covered employees:
The most recent addition to this list, the Los Angeles County Fair Workweek Ordinance went into effect on July 1, 2025.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted it’s the ordinance on April 23, 2024, requiring retail employers with 300 or more employees worldwide to provide employees who work at least 2 hours in unincorporated Los Angeles County with:
San Francisco’s Formula Retail Employee Rights Ordinance applies to all retail employers with at least 40 locations worldwide and 20 or more employees in San Francisco.
Also, an employer is considered a retail business if it maintains an array of merchandise, standardized décor and color scheme, uniform apparel, standardized signage, or a trademark. Because of this broad description, some food establishments may also qualify under the ordinance.
Employers must provide schedules two weeks in advance, as well as:
Meanwhile, employers must treat part- and full-time employees equally regarding wages, time off and promotion eligibility.
Find more information on San Francisco’s website.
Also, wrapping up California cities, San Jose’s predictive scheduling law is not as expansive as those in Emeryville and San Francisco, but it does require employers to offer additional work to current part-time workers before hiring another employee.
New York’s predictive scheduling law went into effect in 2017 and survived a legal challenge a couple years back.
Applying to larger retail and fast food employers, the city has different rules depending on the industry.
Under New York’s Fair Workweek Law, retail employers must:
For fast food employers in New York City, they must:
Also, employers cannot fire or reduce the hours of a worker by more than 15 percent without just cause or a legitimate business reason, and employers must reinstate laid off employees by seniority when hours become available.
Finally, expanded protections against abrupt reductions in hours for fast food workers took effect July 4, 2021.
The Philadelphia Fair Workweek Employment Standards Ordinance was initially set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2020, but was delayed until April 1 of that year.
The ordinance applies to businesses in the retail, food and hospitality industries with 30 or more locations nationwide (including franchises and chains) and 250-plus employees, which includes part-timers.
In Philadelphia, the ordinance requires:
Also, workers can request a schedule change without fear of retaliation. The ordinance does not cover independent contractors, and employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement may waive the requirements.
In Seattle, the city’s Secure Scheduling Ordinance covers hourly employees at retail and food service establishments with 500 or more employees worldwide, as well as full-service restaurants that have 40 or more locations worldwide.
Requiring employers to post schedules (in English as well as employees’ primary languages) 14 days in advance, Seattle’s ordinance also says employers must:
Finally, employers must keep records for three years.
Several jurisdictions have examined predictive scheduling laws. While some legislation has failed and others are pending, as a heads-up to employers, here is a list:
Summer is a particularly noteworthy time of year for predictive scheduling laws. Busy cafes and shops, and people out enjoying the weather, adds up to a need for more employees — and the compliance challenges that come with them.
As always, employers should research the employment laws that may impact their locations. It can be challenging to monitor all the updates, from labor law postings to minimum wage and paid leave, as well as pre-employment hiring regulations and more.
This Employment Law News blog is intended for market awareness only, it is not to be used for legal advice or counsel.
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