Staffing Companies: Fair WorkWeek Ordinance Devastates Workers

CHICAGO – One of the leading initiatives new Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her allies on the Chicago City Council will pursue in her first few weeks of office is the Fair Workweek Ordinance. But a group representing a segment of small business employers and their thousands of employees are urging a second look at the issue.

The Fair Workweek Ordinance makes a series of changes intended to help protect workers from last-minute scheduling changes that can wreck their family life. Employers would be required to schedule hours further in advance and give workers pay if they’re asked to come in and then their shift is reduced or canceled.

But the Staffing Services Association of Illinois and other groups that represent staffing companies in Illinois say including them in the proposed ordinance will be devastating for the tens of thousands of workers they represent in the city of Chicago.

Staffing companies provide temporary and day labor opportunities for many people who either cannot or do not want to work more regular hours or days at a traditional job or career. College students, single parents, recent parolees from prison or people who want or need to work multiple jobs use staffing jobs to work where and when they want, on their own timeframe.

SSAI emphasizes a requirement to set schedules 72 hours in advance would undermine the very reasons workers choose staffing opportunities. Last-minute changes in child or senior care, a broken down car or illness, a new training on the job or parole officer visit – all would create real hardship for staffing workers.

The staffing organizations are urging Mayor Lightfoot and the Council to exempt staffing workers from the ordinance, as has been done in other states.