Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 13, 2017, San Jose's new "Opportunity to Work Ordinance" takes effect, requiring covered employers to offer additional hours to part-time employees before hiring new or temporary employees. As the law's effective date looms, the City has issued guidance clarifying portions of the ordinance and has released the notice form that employers must post.
An earlier post detailed the obligations that San Jose's new voter-approved ordinance creates for San Jose private employers. The ordinance requires certain employers to:
- offer additional work hours to existing, qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees, through a "transparent and non-discriminatory process,"
- post a notice of the rights created by the ordinance, and
- retain, for four years, relevant records such as work schedules, payroll records, and offers to current and former part-time employees.
With the ordinance's March 13th effective date now knocking, the City has issued guidance on how to comply. We provide some highlights below.
For starters, employers can stop banging on the City's door for the ordinance's required notice. The City has issued the notice for employers to post with their other employment notices (click here for the notice in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese).
The City has also published Frequently Asked Questions to shed some light on how the City interprets the ordinance. Perhaps most importantly, the FAQs define a "full-time" employee as an employee who works at least 35 hours a week, which means that "part-time" employees (who must be offered extra hours) are those who work fewer than 35 hours a week.
The FAQs also remind us that a "covered employer" is an employer that has at least 36 employees and that is subject to San Jose's business tax (i.e., the ordinance doesn't apply to government employers). The FAQs also explain that the employer's total number of employees includes employees who work in locations outside of San Jose.
The FAQs go on to explain that only non-exempt employees count towards the 36-person threshold required to become a covered employer (this number includes part-time and full-time employees). Administrative and professional employees will not affect an employer's coverage under the law; in fact, the FAQs explain that they are exempt from the law.
Further, the FAQs details how employers can comply. First, employers need to offer additional hours to part-time employees only at a particular location. Employers do not need to reach out to employees at other locations.
Second, employers can decide how to offer additional hours to part-time employees, provided that the employers adopt a process that is transparent and non-discriminatory. For example, an employer can give employees a limited window to accept additional hours of work before bringing on new labor. And employers need not rearrange their shift schedules to give more hours to part-time workers; the part-time worker must be able to work during the employer's regularly scheduled shift.
Finally, for those covered employers who feel like the ordinance might knock them out, the City has provided a hardship application. On a case-by-case basis, the City will grant renewable twelve-month exemptions where a covered employer's "work or need is unpredictable or requires a specialized skill and there is a need to essentially have Employees 'on call.' "
This recent guidance, while not removing all uncertainty, certainly gives employers a better understanding of what lurks behind the Opportunity to Work Ordinance door, which will open on March 13.
Workplace Solutions. Compliance with new city ordinances can be tricky, especially since they are often relatively obscure. Knowledge is the first step. Compliance efforts are the next. If you would like assistance with ensuring compliance with this new ordinance, then please contact the authors or another attorney from Seyfarth's Labor and Employment Group.
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