Employees at Victoria’s Secret will no longer have to call in to find out if they’ll be hawking lotions, perfumes, bras, underwear and other products on any given day, as the company plans to end its use of on-call scheduling.
BuzzFeed News, citing several current and former staff members, reports that the retailer decided to reverse its use of so-called “on-call shifts,” in which employees are given little notice on whether they are required to show up for work or stay at home without pay.
While on-call scheduling allows retailers to be more flexible with hours and save on payroll expenses by only having workers report for work if the store is busy, the system can make it difficult for employees to predict when they’ll work and their pay.
In most cases, employees who are scheduled on-call must phone, email or text managers shortly before their shift begins.
According to the retailer’s staff, in addition to ending on-call scheduling, the company will now notify employees in advance if upcoming shifts may involve “extensions,” in which workers are required to stay past their scheduled end time.
Employees will also be able to sign up for extra hours if they so desire.
Representatives for L Brands, the owner of Victoria’s Secret and several other companies, declined to provide comment to BuzzFeed.
Over the past several years, Victoria’s Secret and other retailers have come under scrutiny for their use of on-call scheduling.
Back in April, the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent letters warning 13 major retail companies including Target, Sears, Gap, and Victoria’s Secret that some stores may be violating state law by using on-call scheduling systems.
According to the letter, the practice leaves “too little time to make arrangements for family needs, let alone to find an alternative source of income to compensate for the lost pay.”
Before that, in 2013, Victoria’s Secret faced a lawsuit over the system in California that claimed employees may be scheduled for more than 30 hours of work across five days in a week, but only actually worked about 10 hours.
The suit centered around whether or not being available for on-call shifts constituted reporting to work – thereby, requiring compensation even if the shift were canceled.
According to BuzzFeed, the judge in that case dismissed the call-in reporting time claim.
Victoria’s Secret Is Getting Rid Of On-Call Scheduling In Stores [BuzzFeed News]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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