Leave the on-call work for the doctors.
Abercrombie & Fitch announced Wednesday that it will stop scheduling workers using so-called “on call shifts,” where employees are given very little advance notice of what hours they will be working.
On-call staffing helps retailers manage their staff so they have more workers when they’re busy and fewer when they aren’t. But such erratic schedules make it difficult for employees to manage things like child care or school schedules.
And when shifts were canceled with little notice Abercrombie employees weren’t paid, despite a New York law that says workers must get at least four hours of minimum wage if they report for a scheduled shift.
Abercrombie said it will stop using “call-in shifts” in September at its New York stores and will eventually extend the policy to all of U.S. stores.
“Abercrombie & Fitch is pleased to confirm that we have decided that all of our brands will discontinue the use of call-in shift scheduling. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to work collaboratively with the New York Attorney General as we reviewed our processes,” a spokesperson from Abercrombie told CNNMoney.
The decision came after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent letters in April to Abercrombie & Fitch and 12 other companies that schedule employees this way. The letters asked for information about the stores’ on-call policies and were sent to stores including Target, Williams Sonoma, and J. Crew.
Its unclear whether other stores will follow suit, but Abercrombie said it made the change because it “is committed to being a leader in its workplace practices” and because it believes the change will be “beneficial to our store associates.”
Schneiderman’s office praised Abercrombie and Fitch for “taking an important step that others should follow.” His office would not comment on whether other stores will change their policies.