Schakowsky, DeLauro, Warren Introduce Legislation to Protect Part-Time Workers
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) and Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) joined U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in introducing the Part-Time Woker Bill of Rights Act, legislation to strengthen protections for part-time workers and allow them to better balance their work schedules with personal and family needs. The legislation will address one of the primary issues that hourly workers face - work schedules that do not provide as many hours as they need to support their families - and provide additional protections and benefits for part-time workers.
"Part-time workers across the country deserve better. More than one in five American workers are part-time and they face volatile work hours, unstable incomes, and low wages. Today, I reintroduced the Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act with my colleagues Representative DeLauro and Senator Warren to ensure equitable workplace treatment and conditions for part-time workers. This legislation requires employers to treat part-time and full-time employees impartially and gives part-time workers access to stable hours and medical leave. We must improve the quality of part-time work for millions of families across the country," said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.
"Part-time workers are essential to our economy," said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. "Yet, far too often, these workers are at a disadvantage when it comes to the stability and opportunity that are afforded to full-time employees. The Part Time Workers Bill of Rights Act provides part-time workers with the peace of mind they rightly deserve by ensuring they have access to additional hours and receive benefits like Family and Medical Leave which we know is crucial to the wellbeing of our workers. I applaud Congresswoman Schakowsky and Senator Warren for their leadership on this issue and am committed to ensuring part-time workers have the tools they need to provide for themselves and their families."
“Too many families struggle to make ends meet because greedy executives pigeonhole employees into part-time work to avoid paying for the wages and benefits their workers deserve,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren. “The Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights ensures part-time employees are safeguarded from exploitative business practices by expanding protections and access to benefits, helping to close the gender and racial income gap, and allowing workers to get back on their feet.”
Corporations often use underemployment, giving part-time workers fewer hours than they want and spreading work among many part-time employees rather than hiring full-time employees, as an intentional strategy to avoid providing benefits and paying higher wages to boost short-term profits.
The Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act would:
- Require large employers to offer available hours to current, available, qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees or subcontractors. The legislation requires employers with more than 500 workers to compensate existing employees if they hire new employees instead of assigning new work to available, qualified, existing employees.
- Make more part-time employees eligible for family and medical leave. The legislation guarantees any employee who has worked for their employer for at least a year access to federal leave protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act is supported by leading public interest organizations.
“When workers don’t know when or how much they’ll work each week, it becomes impossible to make a budget, secure reliable child care, schedule doctor’s appointments, or otherwise plan their lives,” said Emily Martin, National Women’s Law Center Vice President for Education & Workplace Justice. “But for millions of people—especially women and people of color—this instability is a daily reality due to employer scheduling practices that ignore workers’ needs, and this is particularly true for part-time workers. The Schedules That Work Act and the Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights will change this dynamic, granting working people more control over their work hours and creating more stability for families and employers alike.”
“At Amazon, I work a backbreaking job for poor pay with an unpredictable schedule. My hours are often cut when the company ‘flexes down’ my shift, and it’s difficult to make ends meet and provide for my family. I have two daughters and four grandchildren who I lose out on spending precious time with because of my erratic schedule. But I’m not the only one. For millions of Americans, this is their reality,” said Karen Crawford, a United for Respect leader and Amazon warehouse worker. “Workers across the country are facing a crisis. We deserve predictable schedules and real respect on the job. With these bills in Congress, hope is now on the horizon, and we have an opportunity to change the lives of millions of people by giving them a voice in their schedules and improving their economic security.”
“Through our free and confidential legal helpline, we are constantly hearing from workers who are subjected to unpredictable and unfair scheduling practices, resulting in a lack of adequate pay, hours, and benefits that make caring for themselves and loved ones and staying afloat impossible,” said Sherry Leiwant, Co-Founder and Co-President of A Better Balance. “In particular, unfair scheduling practices particularly impact families with children and younger workers because it is nearly impossible to arrange child care or pursue educational opportunities that can lead to advancement when schedules are unpredictable. Low wage workers and workers of color in industries like retail, food service and building maintenance where employers commonly post schedules with little notice, make last minute shift changes, vary schedules wildly from week-to-week, and require employees to be on call are especially affected. At the same time, part-time workers, many of whom work full-time hours by piecing together several jobs or who work part-time so they can provide care to their families are too often treated like second class workers, paid less and deprived of benefits like health insurance and paid leave. The Schedules That Work Act and Part Time Workers Bill of Rights—reintroduced in Congress today—would extend a lifeline to workers and improve the well-being of families by giving employees more of a say in their work schedules and ensuring part-time workers get the pay and benefits they deserve. We thank Senator Warren, Representative DeLauro, and Representative Schakowsky for their leadership on this legislation and continued commitment to this country's working families."
“Our members have fought and organized tirelessly for workers who desperately need job security and fair workweeks that mean stable and predictable work schedules, part-time parity, and stable incomes in our communities across the country. We’re thrilled that Senator Elizabeth Warren is throwing her political weight along with Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Jan Schakowsky behind two bills to bring these vital protections to workers throughout the U.S,” said Analilia Mejia, Co-Executive Director of the Center for Popular Democracy.
The Part Time Worker Bill of Rights Act is also cosponsored by U.S. Representatives Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Judy Chu (CA-28), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), Barbara Lee (CA-12), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Katie Porter (CA-47), and Ayanna Pressley (MA-07).
The legislators also introduced the Schedules That Work Act, complementary legislation to help ensure that low-wage employees have more certainty about their work schedules and income. The Schedules That Work Act protects workers who ask for schedule changes from retaliation and requires employers to consider their requests. For retail, food service, and cleaning occupations, it requires employers to provide schedules two weeks in advance. The legislation also provides compensation to these employees when their schedules change abruptly or they are assigned to particularly difficult shifts, including split shifts and call-in shifts.
Laws and ordinances to help workers access more work hours are sweeping the nation. Just this month, in Evanston, IL, Rep. Schakowsky’s hometown, a Fair Workweek ordinance went into effect which requires employers in certain industries to give their employees more predictability in their schedules and additional access to hours, among other things.
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