Connecticut Must Create Jobs, Not Chaos

The U.S. posted outstanding job creation numbers for January, adding 227,000 nationwide.
That’s far above estimates, and hopefully fares well for the release of state employment numbers tomorrow.
We could use some good jobs numbers.
Over the past year, Connecticut has been a disappointing outlier, far underperforming the nation and our neighbors on job creation.
That’s why this is absolutely the wrong time to introduce new job-killing restrictions on Connecticut’s businesses, especially in the areas of food service, hospitality, construction, and retail.
Enter SB 747, which prohibits on call shift scheduling, demanding instead that employers post schedules three weeks in advance.
The bill further requires payment to employees for any cancellation, change, or adjustment from that three week out schedule.
It also requires additional payments if hours are added in a shift, and calls for numerous other micro-managing restrictions that lock out any possible flexibility that is necessary in any workplace.

Many industries use on-call scheduling because they don’t know what to expect on any given day. For example:

• What happens if a banquet house books and schedules for a 600-person wedding and then ten days out, the wedding is cancelled? It happens.
• What if after scheduling three weeks out, a freak snowstorm occurs 17 days later dropping a foot of snow in early April? That happens, too.
• What happens if a contractor can’t schedule workers to install insulation if the electricians haven’t finished their work?
• How about a retailer facing a day with few customers and can't send an employee home for lack of business?

In each of these cases, the firms would be on the hook for thousands of dollars entirely due to actions outside of their control, not to mention that they could be subject to a civil action brought forth by the Labor Department, and liable for up to three times the amount of lost wages or predictability pay.
Having managed and worked in restaurants and banquet operations in my youth, I can tell you this bill would create chaos.
The legislature has two critical jobs this session—produce a sustainable budget with no tax increases, and pass legislation that stimulates job creation in our state.
Let's get to work!

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Pete Gioia is an economist with CBIA. Follow him on Twitter @CTEconomist.