bake - October 2014 - 16

legislation

Record-keeping Mandates
A radical proposal endorsed by a number of San Francisco

* Maintain a series of records including written offers of

lawmakers threatens to impose a set of new scheduling and

more hours to employees, offers of employment to existing

record-keeping mandates on the city's food operators.

employees following a sale of the business, and a list of
employees who worked for the business at the time the busi-

Under the "Retail Workers Bill of Rights," which is aimed at

ness was sold. Records must be kept for four years.

"formula retailers," the owners of restaurants and retail stores
that have 11 or more locations in the US will be forced to

Minimum-wage increases are being pushed across the nation,

comply with a series of rules that would put the city, not the

including in San Francisco. President Obama ordered federal

owner, in control of key business decisions.

agencies to allow workers to request more ﬂexible work
schedules.

The proposal by San Francisco supervisor Eric Mar, backed by
the nonproﬁt group Jobs with Justice, puts San Francisco at

The San Francisco proposal is backed heavily by the Service

the forefront of a national discussion about hourly workers'

Employees International Union (SEIU), which in recent years

rights amid an economic recovery that has largely created

has worked to unionize quick-service restaurants.

more jobs in the low-wage retail sector and resulted in
millions of new "involuntary" part-time workers.

The California Restaurant Association (CRA) is working with
the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and other busi-

The legislation would require business owners to:

ness groups to urge members of the San Francisco Board of
Supervisors to oppose the proposal.

* Give the city access on demand to payroll and employment
records.

"For operators, it would be a lot more challenging to schedule
their employees with all of these requirements," says Javier

* Offer more hours to part-time employees before hiring

Gonzalez, director of government affairs for the CRA. "The

additional employees or using employment agencies if the

record retention requirements would be a huge burden, and it

part-time employees are qualiﬁed to do the work and have

also slows down the hiring process."

been performing similar work for the business. The offers
of additional hours must be made in writing. Businesses are

Gonzalez added that he's concerned that other cities may

required to offer only enough hours to give the part-time

attempt to copy San Francisco if the legislation is successful.

employee eight hours a day or 40 hours in a week.
"There's a chance we could see this come up in other cities
* Require employers to pay employees for any shift cancelled
with fewer than 24 hours notice.

in California and other major metroploitan areas around the
country."

* Retain employees who have worked for the business for at

Action on the legislation could come quickly. It's scheduled to

least six months for a minimum of 90 days if the business

be heard by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Land Use

is sold.

and Economic Development Committee in September.

16 < OCT 2014 | bakemag.com
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bake - October 2014

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