Not unlike the waves from minimum wage battles, consideration of so-called Fair Workweek legislation is also spreading across the nation. Fair workweek laws generally provide that employers provide workers with a minimum (usually 10 – 14 days) period of notice of their work schedule and any deviation from that schedule requires an additional “predictability payment” to the employee. Further, they often require an additional payment in the event an employee’s hours total less than the original schedule provides and mandate that existing employees be given more hours before additional workers are hired. We’ve advised before that Philadelphia was debating this mandate and is now negotiating with business interests on the issue. In fact, the bill was slated to be considered this week with a final vote coming as early as December 6! Likewise, Chicago appears to be massaging its Fair Workweek proposal into whatever form is needed to win passage. This year’s proposal has been amended to exempt businesses with fewer than 50 employees from its mandates. Whether the amended version gains traction or not remains to be seen. The city of Boston is just coming out of the gate on Fair Workweek legislation with a public hearing on the proposal being held on Monday of this week. Despite strong opposition from the retail and restaurant industries, an appetite to seriously entertain the idea was evident amongst a number of councilors. Much more to come on this issue!