HARTFORD, CT – Today, State Senator Mary Daugherty Abrams (D-Meriden, Middlefield, Rockfall, Middletown, Cheshire) endorsed the progression of several bills she supports through public hearings in front of the Labor and Public Employees Committee. The three bills stand to provide additional strength and protections to both employees and employers, giving workers more security in their schedules and bolstering current government support of unemployment programs.
House Bill No. 6924, “An Act Prohibiting On-Call Shift Scheduling,” would amend state law to prohibit employers from placing employees “on-call” for shifts. Among its changes would be ending current practices where an employee must call before a shift to see if they are working that day, and a new requirement for employers to give at least 24 hours’ notice if an employee is not needed for a shift. The bill intends to end this unfair practice that harms workers.
Sen. Abrams has introduced similar legislation in Senate Bill No. 764, which would put the same changes in place.
“On-call shifts are unfair to workers, families and children alike,” said Sen. Abrams. “By ending this practice, we can provide working parents with more security and knowledge of their schedules, making it so they don’t have to arrange last-minute care for their children, and making sure they can live their lives on their own terms, not on the terms of a prospective shift schedule. I applaud the consideration of this bill and look forward to continuing our work to get it passed.”
“Juggling multiple jobs, multiple schedules, childcare, and school is very difficult,” said Izzi Greenberg, executive director of the Middletown-based Middlesex Coalition for Children, said in submitted public testimony. “It is made more difficult when employers can modify an employee’s schedule at their whim. Families need predictability. Children need stability. They need quality care that is consistent. But to have that, parents need to know when they are going to work.”
Additionally, legislation Sen. Abrams co-sponsors including Senate Bill No. 696, “An Act Concerning the Solvency of the Unemployment Trust Fund,” and Senate Bill No. 658, “An Act Concerning Notice To Employers Regarding Unemployment Compensation Claims,” both were discussed in hearings. They, respectively, work to reform the program to protect it for the future and ensure employers have adequate time to adhere to deadlines, strengthening its overall efficiency.