On July 1, 2025, Los Angeles County’s Fair Workweek ordinance takes effect, applying to retail businesses under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes 44–45 — for example, grocery and general merchandise stores — with 300 or more employees globally. Closely following the City of Los Angeles’ fair workweek ordinance, it adds new scheduling and pay requirements for covered employees, which are those who work at least two hours within unincorporated Los Angeles County in a given week.
Under the Fair Workweek ordinance, employers must provide work schedules at least 14 days in advance. If any changes are made, they must be provided in writing. Employees have the right to decline the changes unless they voluntarily agree to them in writing.
And employees may request changes to their schedule, location or hours. If the employer denies the request, the reason for denial must be provided in writing.
Employers must also provide at least 10 hours of rest between shifts unless they get written consent from the employee. If that rest period is shortened, the second shift must be paid at 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay.
Additionally, when an employee’s schedule changes with less than 14 days’ notice, “predictability pay” may be owed. For each schedule change that doesn’t result in the loss of time to the employee or does result in additional work time that exceeds 15 minutes, employees receive one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate. If the employer changes the start or end time of the shift by at least 15 minutes or reduces their scheduled work time, employees must be paid one-half of their regular rate of pay for the time they don’t work. Some exceptions apply — such as when the employee initiates the change — but employers should expect predictability pay to apply in most cases.
Before hiring new employees, contractors or temporary workers, employers must offer available work to current qualified employees. The offer must be made at least 72 hours before external hiring, and employees must be given 48 hours to accept.
And new hires must receive a written good-faith estimate of their anticipated work schedule within 10 days of requesting it. If the actual hours end up differing significantly, the employer must document a legitimate business reason that wasn’t known at the time of the estimate.
The Fair Workweek ordinance also prohibits employers from requiring employees to find coverage for shifts they cannot work due to legally protected reasons. Plus, employees who assert their rights under the ordinance are protected from retaliation.
Lastly, a notice outlining employee rights must be posted annually in English, Spanish and any language spoken by at least ten percent of the workforce at a given location. Electronic posting is acceptable. The Los Angeles Department of Consumer & Business Affairs is expected to publish this notice in the near future. Employers must retain records for three years.
As the July 1 deadline approaches, employers should review their scheduling policies, train managers and prepare to comply.
Vanessa M. Greene, J.D., Employment Law Subject Matter Expert, CalChamber
CalChamber members can read more about Los Angeles City’s Fair Workweek Ordinance on HRCalifornia. Not a member? See what CalChamber can do for you.
