Persistent Unpredictability: Analyzing Experiences with the First Statewide Scheduling Legislation in Oregon

Abstract

Based on 98 in-depth interviews with workers and managers, the authors analyze the effectiveness of Oregon’s Fair Workweek Act, the first statewide scheduling legislation. Overall, findings show limited evidence of the law’s efficacy to improve workers’ schedules. The authors discuss three factors that are likely to explain this shortcoming: lack of adequate funding for education about the law and for enforcement, the inclusion of provisions that undermine the intent of fair scheduling legislation, and the ability of employers to interpret the law with substantial leeway. In this context, the authors consider the persistence of unpredictable scheduling practices a form of “flexible discipline,” even under Fair Workweek legislation. This article contributes to the literature on unpredictable scheduling by showing that in order to address this problem, legislation must include robust funding for education, implementation, and enforcement and must avoid options for workers to waive their rights to predictability pay, which as part of the act is intended to compensate employees for last-minute schedule changes.