Los Angeles County Fair Workweek Ordinance

You can find out more information regarding the FWWO on the county’s webpage. You can also contact the county by phone at 1-800-593-8222 or via email at dcba@dcba.lacounty.gov.

Covered Employers

A covered employer is any business that:

• Is identified as a retail business under retail trade categories 44-45 in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) or any business, including non-profits, that primarily generates revenue from selling tangible goods directly to end users for personal, household, or family use — including but not limited to appliances, clothing, electronics, groceries, and household items;
• Directly, indirectly or through an agent or any other person, including through the services of a contractor, temporary service or staffing agency, exercises control over the wages, hours or working conditions of any employee; and
• Employs 300 or more employees globally.1

Workers employed through temporary services, staffing agencies, or contracts count toward the 300 global employee threshold. Employees of a retail employer’s subsidiary — defined as an entity in which the employer holds more than 50% ownership and that qualifies as a retail business under the NAICS — also count. In the case of franchises, employees will count toward the threshold if the franchisee operates a retail business under the NAICS and the location exceeds 15,000 square feet.2

Covered Employees

A covered employee is any individual who meets the following criteria, regardless of where the employer is located:

• Performs at least two hours of work within the unincorporated areas of the county for a covered employer in a particular workweek;
• Is entitled to earn California minimum wage (meaning exempt employees are excluded); and
• Is assigned a primary work location supporting retail operations, such as a retail store or warehouse.3

To determine if a workplace lies within the unincorporated areas of the county, visit https://lacounty.gov/muas/.

Employer Obligations

Covered employers must meet a number of obligations under the FWWO, delineated in detail below. All required notices to employees discussed below must be provided in English, Spanish, and any other language spoken by at least 10 percent of the employer’s covered employees.4

Good Faith Estimate of Work Schedule

Prior to hiring a covered employee, covered employers must provide each new employee with a written “good faith estimate” of the employee's anticipated “work schedule,” which is defined as the schedule of the hours, days and times, including on-call shifts, when an employer requires an employee to work or be on-call to work.5 An “on-call” shift is where the employee must, less than 24 hours prior to the shift, either contact the employer or wait to be contacted by the employer for the purpose of determining whether the employee must report to work.6

A “good faith estimate” is defined as a “reasonable, fact-based prediction of an employee's work schedule that can be based on forecasts, prior hours worked by a similarly-situated employee, or other relevant information.”7

The good faith estimate must be provided to the employee before the time of hire, along with a copy of the FWWO poster. Additionally, if a current employee requests a written estimate of their work schedule, the employer must provide it within 10 days of the request.8

Good faith estimates are not contractual offers. However, if there is a “substantial deviation” from the good faith estimated work schedule, employers must have a documented, legitimate business reason that was unknown at the time the estimate was provided to substantiate the deviation.9

In the context of a good faith estimate, “substantially deviate” means when any of the following scenarios occur in six out of 12 consecutive work weeks (when the differences are not due to documented employee-initiated/approved changes):

• The number of actual hours worked differs by twenty percent or more from the expected hours in the good faith estimate;
• The actual days of the week worked differ from what was indicated in the good faith estimate;
• The actual work location differs from what was indicated in the good faith estimate; or
• At least one actual shift per week is outside of the potential shifts indicated in the good faith estimate.10

Advanced Notice

Covered employers must provide employees with written notice of their work schedule at least 14 calendar days before the start of the work period in one of the following ways:

1. Posting the work schedule in a conspicuous and accessible location where employee notices are customarily posted and visible to all employees; or
2. Sending the work schedule by electronic means or another manner reasonably calculated to provide actual notice to each employee. 11

Employers must provide written notice to employees if it initiates changes to the work schedule that occur after the advanced notice work schedule is provided. The employee has the right to decline any hours, shifts or location changes that were not included in the initial work schedule. If an employee voluntarily consents to working hours or shifts that were changed, the consent must be obtained in advance of the change and must be documented. General or ongoing consent is insufficient.12

An employee who expresses an ongoing concern for their own or their family’s personal safety may request, verbally or in writing, that their work schedule not be posted or shared with other employees. The employer must immediately honor the request, except when sharing the schedule is necessary for a legitimate business purpose, such as shift management. The request remains in effect until withdrawn by the employee.13

Rest Between Shifts

A covered employer may not schedule an employee for a “shift” that begins less than 10 hours after their previous shift unless the employee provides written consent and is paid time and a half for all hours worked in the second shift.14 A shift is defined as the consecutive hours an employee is required to work, including meal and rest periods.15

'Predictability Pay'

“Predictability Pay” refers to the compensation employers must pay to employees if the employer makes changes to an employee's work schedule. It is calculated on an hourly basis at the employee's regular rate of pay in the same manner as the regular rate of pay when calculating overtime premiums. This compensation is in addition to any wages earned for work performed by that employee.16

Covered employers must pay consenting employees one additional hour at their regular rate for each change to the work schedule — made after the schedule has already been provided in advance — that either:

• Does not reduce the employee’s work time; or
• Adds more than 15 minutes of work time.17

A covered employer must pay an employee one half of their regular rate for any scheduled time the employee does not work due to changes made after the required 14-day advanced notice, including:

• Cutting hours from a shift before or after the employee reports to work;
• Changing the start or end time of a shift, resulting in a loss of more than 15 minutes;
• Changing the date of a shift;
• Cancelling a shift; or
• Scheduling an on-call shift without calling the employee in.18

Predictability pay is not required if:

1. An employee initiates the requested work schedule change;
2. An employee accepts a schedule change initiated by an employer due to an absence of another scheduled employee. The employer must communicate to the employee that accepting the hours is voluntary and the employee has a right to decline, and they must document the specific nature of the request and the employee’s consent;
3. An employee accepts additional hours pursuant to the FWWO;
4. An employee's hours are reduced due to the employee's violation of any existing law or of the employer's lawful policies and procedures;
5. The employer's operations are compromised pursuant to law; or
6. Extra hours worked require the payment of an overtime premium under California Labor Code Section 510. In other words, if an overtime payment is paid for a shift, then predictability pay is not imposed in addition to the overtime.19

Shift Priority

Before an employer hires a new employee or uses a contractor, a temporary service or staffing agency, the employer must first offer the work to current employees if:

1. One or more of the current employees are qualified to do the work as reasonably determined by the employer; and
2. The additional work hours would not result in the payment of an overtime premium rate under California Labor Code Section 510. 20

Employers must make the offer for additional work hours in writing or by posting the offer in a conspicuous location at the workplace where notices to employees are customarily posted. Employers must provide written notice of the offer for additional work to current employees at least 72 hours prior to hiring any new employee or third-party person.21

If at any time during the 72-hour period the employer receives written confirmation from all its employees that they are not interested in accepting additional hours of work, the employer may immediately proceed with hiring outside assistance.22

The employee has 48 hours to accept an offer of additional hours and must do so in writing. After the 48-hour period has expired, the employer may hire new employees or retain the services of a contractor, temporary service or staffing agency to work any additional hours not accepted for work by current employees. If more current employees accept the offer to work than hours are available, the employer must award the hours using a fair and equitable method.23

An employee who accepts additional hours will not be entitled to predictability pay even if it results in a schedule change from the work schedule.24

Request Preferences

Covered employees have a right to request a preference for certain hours, times or locations of work. Employers may then accept or decline the request; however, employers must notify the employee in writing of the reason for any denial.25

Shift Coverage

Employers cannot require an employee to find coverage for a shift or partial shift that the employee is unable to work for reasons protected by law.26

Notice, Posting and Recordkeeping Requirements

Employers must post the Notice of Retail Employee's Workweek Rights published each year by the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) informing employees of their rights under this ordinance in a conspicuous and accessible place at any workplace or job site where an employee works. The notice must be posted annually in English, Spanish and any other language spoken by at least 10 percent of the employees at the workplace. Employers must provide a copy of the notice by electronic communication or U.S. Mail to employees who do not have regular access to the workplace or job site.27

• Los Angeles County Fair Workweek Poster

Employers must also provide a copy of the notice to each new hire when providing them with the good faith estimate of their work schedule.28

Electronic communication constitutes written notice as required under the FWWO.29

Covered employers must retain the following current and former employee records for three years:

• Work schedules for all employees;
• Copies of written offers to employees for additional work hours and written responses from employees;
• Written correspondence between the employer and employee regarding work schedule changes including, but not limited to, requests, approvals and denials and
• requests not to post or transmit work schedules to other employees;
• Good faith estimates of hours provided to new and existing employees; and
• Payroll records for each covered employee that document the employee’s name, address, occupation, dates of employment, rate or rates of pay, amount paid each pay period, hours worked, the amount of predictability pay paid each pay period, the amount of premium pay paid each pay period for shifts scheduled to close together, and the formula by which the employee’s wages are calculated.30

Enforcement

The DCBA enforces the FWWO. The DCBA must have access to all business sites subject to the FWWO during business hours for inspection and investigation of potential FWWO violations.31

If an employee alleges they were denied compensation under the FWWO and the employer either failed to maintain required records or denied the DCBA reasonable access to those records, a rebuttable presumption of a violation will apply.32

The FWWO has details about the DCBA’s power and authority, the complaint and investigations process, penalty amounts, settlement and appeals, and other related topics. For more information, please refer to Sections 8.102.160 - 8.102.280 of the ordinance.

Retaliation

Employees who seek to enforce their rights under the FWWO by any lawful means are protected from retaliation and discrimination under the FWWO. Any adverse action taken against an employee within 90 days of the employee exercising these protected rights creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation under the FWWO. Employees subject to retaliation are entitled to reinstatement of their prior position, if applicable.33

No employer or other person may threaten or suggest — directly or indirectly — that they will report an employee or their family member’s suspected citizenship or immigration status to any government agency as a consequence of the employee exercising rights under the FWWO.34

1. Los Angeles County Code sec. 8.102.030(O)(1)-(3).