Janet Curry
April 10, 2015
Fighting Poverty
FINAL
SAN FRANCISCO RETAIL BILL OF RIGHTS
I.
INTRODUCTION
The “Golden Gate” City of San Francisco, California is a beautiful city, endowed with many
geographic and cultural attributes, and it ranks among the nation’s top cities for affluence.
San Francisco, California1
San Francisco’s Human Services Agency released a report in June 2014, however, which
showed that their rich are getting richer, but their poor are getting much poorer. The middle
class has shrunk 45 percent. As of 2013, 13.5 percent of their population is living in poverty,
and many families are surviving only by “doubling-up” and living with another family.2
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San Francisco Poverty Graph3
In fact, when measuring income inequality with the Gini Coefficient, a century-old formula
used by the World Bank and other groups to measure national economies, San Francisco shares
their wealth among their residents similar to Rwanda. This proves that the rich are getting richer
and more educated, the poor are falling further behind, and the middle class is leaving the city.4
Facing even more increasing income disparity and a deadlocked Congress that has blocked
almost every effort to improve conditions and wages for working people throughout the country,
the City’s Town Supervisor, council members, and community sponsors worked together to
create San Francisco’s Retail Workers’ Bill of Rights to help to improve the decreasing
economic conditions for retail workers in the City.5
A. Five Provisions in Two Pieces of Legislation: Nos. 140880 and 141024
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on November 25, 2014 to pass
the two ordinances (No. 140880 and 141024) that are collectively referred to as the San
Francisco Retail Workers’ Bill of Rights (“Bill of Rights”). The two ordinances are: 1) The
“Hours and Retention Protections for Formula Retail Employees” Ordinance (No. 140880), and
2) The “Fair Scheduling and Treatment of Formula Retail Employees” Ordinance (No. 141024).6
The five provisions of the Bill of Rights include:
1.
Promoting full-time work and access to hours. If a formula retail employer has
additional hours of work to offer, the employer shall offer those hours first to
“existing qualified employees” before hiring additional part-time employees or
securing additional employees through a temporary employment agency or similar
contractor.
2. Encouraging fair, predictable schedules. Formula retail employers shall post
schedules at least two weeks in advance. If the schedule changes with less than a
week’s notice, the worker will receive one hour of pay at his/her regular rate. If the
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schedule changes with less than 24 hours’ notice, the worker will receive two-to-four
hours of pay at his/her regular rate of pay.
3. Discouraging Abusive On-Call Scheduling Practices. Formula retail employers
shall provide two-to-four hours of pay at his/her regular rate of pay when the worker
is required to be “on-call” for a specified shift but the employer cancels the shift with
less than 24 hours’ notice.
4. Equal Treatment for Part-Time Workers. Formula retail employers are prohibited
from discriminating against an employee with respect to his/her rate of pay, access to
employer-provided paid and unpaid time off, or access to promotion opportunities.
5. Encouraging Worker Retention and Job Security. If the formula retail business is
sold, an employee must be retained on the job for at least a 90-day trial period.7
“All families need strong wages, stable hours and sane schedules to build a good life. But too many of
our neighbors who serve our food, stock our shelves and sweep our floors have jobs that grant too few
hours on too short notice and require them to be at the beck and call of their employers.” Quote from
Executive Director of Jobs with Justice San Francisco, Gordon Mar.8
B. What Employers are Included in the Retail Workers Bill of Rights?
The Retail Workers Bill of Rights is focused only on the largest, most profitable retailers
operating in the City of San Francisco. Specifically, it will only apply to businesses with 20 or
more locations globally and with 20 or more employees in San Francisco. Under San Francisco
law, a chain store is categorized as “formula retail” if they have 11 or more locations.9
This law will cover “big box stores” such as Target and Lowe’s, fast-food franchises like
McDonald’s and Taco Bell, chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Cheesecake Factor, fashion
retailers like the Gap and H&M, grocery stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, and other
corporate businesses.
C. Effective Dates of Retail Workers Bill of Rights
The Retail Workers Bill of Rights became law on December 5, 2014, 10 days after it was
passed by the Board of Supervisors and presented to Mayor Edwin Lee. It became effective on
January 4, 2015, and the law becomes operative on July 3, 2015.10
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San Francisco Retail Workers Bill of Rights11
II.
LOCAL ADVOCATES IN FAVOR OF RETAIL WORKERS BILL OF RIGHTS
A. Sponsors of San Francisco Workers Retail Bill of Rights
There were many sponsors of San Francisco’s new legislation. They are: 1) Alliance of
Californians for Community Empowerment; 2) Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (SF
Chapter); 3) California Faculty Association, SF State; 4) California Partnership, San Francisco
Chapter; 5) Center for Popular Democracy; 6) Chinese Progressive Association; 7) Coleman
Advocates for Children and Youth; 8) CWA District 9; 9) Dolores Street Community Services;
10) Filipino Community Center; 11) IFPTE Local 21; 12) Jobs with Justice; 13) La Colectiva;
14) Mujeres Unidas y Activas; 15) National Domestic Workers Alliance; 16) National
Employment Law Project; 17) North Bay Jobs with Justice; 18) Restaurant Opportunity Center
of the Bay; 19) San Francisco Labor Council; 20) SEIU Local 87; 21) SEIU United Service
Workers West; 22) SF Living Wage Coalition; 23) SF Tomorrow; 24) South of Market
Community Action Network; 25) UFCW Local 5; 26) UFCW Local 648; 27) United Educators
of San Francisco; 28) UNITE HERE Local 2; and 29) Young Workers United.12
Jobs With Justice, One Supporter13
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B. Jobs with Justice
One of the legislation’s sponsors is Jobs for Justice. This organization was formed in
September 2009 by a diverse group of community and labor organizers who began building a
long-term strategic alliance of community and labor organizations in the San Francisco Bay area
as part of the national Jobs with Justice network.
Jobs with Justice seeks to create a space to deepen community-labor solidarity and build the
unified power of working families and their communities in San Francisco and beyond.14
Jobs with Justice, San Francisco15
III.
OPPONENTS AGAINST THE RETAIL WORKERS BILL OF RIGHTS
A. Business Groups and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
The Chamber of Commerce of the City of San Francisco was not in favor of the Retail
Workers Bill of Rights. In fact, on November 19, 2014, the Chamber’s Vice President of Public
Affairs, wrote to David Chiu, President of the Board of Supervisors, stating that the Chamber of
Commerce, representing over 1,500 local businesses, was in opposition to the legislation. Their
opposition included these concerns: 1) limiting the scope of businesses involved to ones that sell
taxable products, food, and beverages; 2) not interfering with hour and staffing decisions by
employers; 3) modifying the “advanced notice of work schedules” more reasonably; 4)
conforming the penalties to similar penalties in other recent legislation; 5) recognizing the need
for certain “on-call” positions; 6) restoring language allowing for waiver by collective bargaining
agreement; and 7) eliminating the inclusion of security and janitorial service contractors from
this legislation.16
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B. Mayor Declined to sign Bill, but Bill passed unanimously
Although Mayor Edwin Lee declined to sign the legislation, it passed unanimously by the
Board of Supervisors. Because of the unanimous backing, it did not need the Mayor’s
signature to become law in six months.
Mayor Lee sided with the business leaders who opposed the bills. He wrote a letter to the
Board stating that even though he was very supportive of their efforts to provide more rights
and benefits to part-time workers, he was unable to sign the legislation.17
IV.
IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF SAN FRANCISCO RETAIL
WORKERS BILL OF RIGHTS
A. Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (“OLSE”) implements and enforces
the Ordinances
The San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (“OLSE”) is charged with
implementing and enforcing the ordinances. The OLSE orders compliance, imposes
administrative fines, and requires employers to pay lost wages and reimburse the City’s
enforcement costs.18
B. Penalties for Non-Compliance
If the OLSE determines that an employer has violated the ordinance, the OLSE may order the
employer to provide any “appropriate relief,” including payment to employees for lost wages and
a penalty of $50 to each employee or person whose rights were violated for each day that the
violation occurred or continued.
Employers may also receive an administrative fine of up to $500 per eligible employee for
specific violations of the ordinance.
The effective operative date of this legislation is July 3, 2015.19
C. The City Attorney is authorized to bring a Civil Action
The ordinances authorize the City Attorney to bring a civil action against employers for
violation of its laws. The City may recover payment of lost wages, civil penalties, reinstatement
of employment, and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.
If an employer fails to maintain or retain records as required by the new laws, the City will
presume that the employer did not comply with the ordinances.20
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V.
NATIONAL ADVOCATES IN FAVOR OF RETAIL WORKERS BILL OF
RIGHTS
In addition to local legislation like San Francisco’s Bill of Rights, national attention has also
been recently focused on hourly workers’ rights. A New York Times article on 8/13/2014
brought attention to the difficult plight of the hourly worker like this single mother, Jannette
Navarro.
“Working Anything but 9 to 5,” New York Times, August 13, 201421
A. Proposed Legislation by Congress in July 2014
Nationally, in July of 2014, leading Democratic members of Congress introduced legislation
to stem abusive scheduling practices that are directed mainly at hourly workers. The “Schedules
that Work Act” (H.R. 5159) seeks to empower hourly employees with greater scheduling
flexibility and certainty. The Act is intended to ensure that employers and employees have
mutual respect for time dedicated to the workplace by:
1. Protecting all employees from retaliation for requesting a more flexible, predictable, or
stable schedule.
2. Creating a process for employers to consider requests that is responsive to the needs of
both employees and employers.
3. Compensating retail, food service, and cleaning workers for at least four hours of work if
an employee reports to work when scheduled for at least four hours but is sent home
early.
4. Providing that retail, food service, and cleaning employees receive work schedules at
least two weeks in advance.
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5. Providing workers an extra hour of pay if scheduled to work split shifts, or nonconsecutive shifts within a single day.22
On November 17, 2014, this Act was referred to the Subcommittee on Workforce
Protections.23
B. Fair Workweek Initiative
The Center for Popular Democracy (“CPD”) has implemented a Fair Workweek Initiative.
This initiative is bringing together leading worker-organizing and community-based
organizations across the country and research and policy groups as well to develop and
implement solutions at the local, state, and federal levels that concentrate on low-wage women
and women of color to shift employer practices that achieve: 1) predictable, stable, transparent
schedules; 2) access to full-time employment; 3) a voice in their work schedules; 4) using
technology; and 5) a social safety net.24
The New York Times reported on July 15, 2014 that there is an national movement, fueled by
women’s and labor groups, to change the unpredictability of part-time workers’ hours. This
article referenced a University of Chicago study by Susan J. Lambert, PhD, which showed that
employers dictated the work schedules of approximately 50 percent of young adults without their
output. These young workers’ employment hours fluctuated from 17 to 28 hours per week.
Reducing unpredictability is one of the keys to improving the conditions of these part-time
workers.25
The Fair Workweek Initiative is very important because, according to a February 6, 2013 Los
Angeles Times article, the number of people involuntarily working part-time nationwide has
grown to 7.9 million, an 80 percent increase from 2006. Industries are increasingly relying on
part-time workers and temporary workers to save money.26
Center for Popular Democracy27
VI.
CONCLUSION
It is apparent that there is a growing need for nationwide legislation to enable part-time
workers in this country to earn a living wage and to have better working conditions. The number
of part-time workers are increasing, and so is the percentage of population of people in this
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country who are living in poverty. However, because of our often “deadlocked” Congress,
national change may not happen soon. Therefore, San Francisco is to be applauded for taking
strides to create their own legislation which will enable a majority of their low-income workers
to have a better and more economically pleasing lifestyle.
1
http://retailworkerrights.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-san-franciscos-retail-workers-bill-of-rights/;
http://retailworkerrights.com/board-of-supervisors-unanimously-passes-retail-workers-bill-of-rights-on-first-vote/
2
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Income-inequality-on-par-with-developing-nations-5486434.php
3
http://www.sfhip.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=NS-Indicator&file=indicator&iid=14103282&Submit=Go
4
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Income-inequality-on-par-with-developing-nations-5486434.php
5
http://www.jwj.org/everything-you-need-to-know-about-san-franciscos-retail-workers-bill-of-rights
6
https://a.next.westlaw.com/Document/I7ebd9c907a7711e489e8a6861da4ebc2/View/FullText.html?navigationPath
=Search%2Fv3%2Fsearch%2Fresults%2Fnavigation%2Fi0ad6040d0000014c65d24ce25185d729%3FNav%3DNE
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2528sc.Search%2529%26transitionType%3DSearchItem&listSource=Search&listPageSource=e02936821a1b2ff39
d2210d7a83f2328&list=NEWS&rank=7&grading=na&sessionScopeId=cdc3d7b79b13d1b0e4e4cf67ac753525&ori
ginationContext=Search%20Result&transitionType=SearchItem&contextData=%28sc.Search%29
7
http://retailworkerrights.com/get-the-facts/
8
http://retailworkerrights.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-san-franciscos-retail-workers-bill-of-rights/
9
http://retailworkerrights.com/get-the-facts/
10
http://retailworkerrights.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-san-franciscos-retail-workers-bill-of-rights/
11
http://retailworkerrights.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-san-franciscos-retail-workers-bill-of-rights/
12
http://retailworkerrights.com/get-the-facts/
13
http://retailworkerrights.com/get-the-facts/
14
http://jwjsf.org/history/
15
http://jwjsf.org/history/
16
https://sfchamber.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Opposition-Letter.pdf
17
http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2014/12/08/lee-wont-sign-retail-bill-of-rights-bills-become-law-anyway/
18
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/san-francisco-passes-retail-workers-bill-rights
19
http://www.nchra.org/news/206573/San-Francisco-Ordinance-Imposes-New-Burdens-on-Formula-RetailEmployers
20
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/san-francisco-passes-retail-workers-bill-rights
21
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/starbucks-workers-scheduling-hours.html?_r=0
22
http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/press-release/miller-harkin-warren-delauro-introduce-legislationestablish-fair-work-scheduling
23
http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/press-release/miller-harkin-warren-delauro-introduce-legislationestablish-fair-work-scheduling
24
http://populardemocracy.org/campaign/restoring-fair-workweek
25
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/business/a-push-to-give-steadier-shifts-to-part-timers.html?_r=1;
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=rk1FjD6nt0sC&oi=fnd&pg=PA169&dq=related:iXMm4IlO8J_XQ
M:scholar.google.com/&ots=upo18Q7iii&sig=F8Dho-DuDqqFvc9HNu4dgX3Ymyo#v=onepage&q&f=false
26
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/06/business/la-fi-part-time-workers-20130207
27
http://populardemocracy.org/campaign/raising-minimum-wage
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