SEATTLE – Seattle has convened two working groups to tackle whether or not the city should draft schedule regulations for businesses, the Seattle Times reports. Workers at convenience stores and restaurants, among other businesses, often have schedules that change from week to week. NACS reported on the challenges of just-in-time scheduling in the November 2015 issue of NACS Magazine.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, along with some councilmembers, are looking into a scheduling law. The working groups are considering the following:

• 14-day advance notice of shifts
• At least 11 hours’ break between shifts, but employees could skip that voluntarily
• 60 minutes of extra “predictability pay” when the company switches a worker’s posted shift
• Up to four hours’ pay for employees scheduled shifts that are either canceled or reduced to less than four hours, with less than a day’s notice
• Offers of more hours over those scheduled given first to current part-time employees before adding new workers.

Some business representatives have suggested more limited measures, including:

• Seven days’ advance notice of shifts
• 10 hours’ rest between scheduled work
• 60 minutes of extra “predictability pay” only for employer-initiated changes to posted shifts.

Both worker and employer groups are meeting separately to hammer out what such a scheduling law would be palatable for them. But some companies aren’t happy at all with the idea of a scheduling law. “I now am questioning if you are trying to help people or just penalize businesses for being in business,” wrote retired Starbucks President Howard Behar in an email to councilmembers. “I am disgusted with this city government.”

San Francisco approved a scheduling law in 2014. Currently, Chicago, Emeryville, Calif., and Washington, D.C., are also looking into scheduling regulations.

NACS covered scheduling and a host of other labor issues you should be aware of in our April magazine cover story, “Labor Pains.”