All posts by marygatta

Schedule Control and Economic Security in Restaurant Work

While it is often overlooked among advocates, research, employers and policymakers, lack of schedule control can have a profound impact on workers’ economic security.  And the waiters and waitresses that serve us our food in our nation’s restaurants face this challenging situation every day.

With a federal minimum wage of $2.13 for tipped restaurant workers and large numbers of them working without employment based benefits, advocates understandably focus on the issue of inadequate wages for these workers.  Income, however, is just one aspect of economic security.  WOW propose that economic security is comprised of five elements: income, job quality, education and training, savings and assets and supports.  Economic security then is defined as a worker’s ability to access and build several of these elements.  However, all too often, when we conceptualize job quality for restaurant workers, we do not examine their access to workplace flexibility – one of the keys to security. Restaurant servers’ low wages are compounded by a high degree of schedule inflexibility, making their economic insecurity even more precarious.

A common practice in the restaurant industry is “volatile workplace scheduling.” Here, both the number of hours and the timing of those hours can change day-to-day, week-to-week, and season-to-season at the discretion of management. This unpredictability means that a worker may have to work different hours and different days each week with no consistent days off. Further, schedules are often posted with little advance notice.  Without advance knowledge of one’s schedule, it is difficult to schedule life appointments around work. Hotels and restaurants often post schedules on the Thursday or Friday of the week, and this upcoming schedule begins just a day or so later.

In addition, managers can make last-minute changes to the work schedule once it is posted if it appears that customer traffic may be higher or lower than anticipated. For example, managers may send a worker home if the establishment is not busy. These changes are made with no advance notice, compounding work and life problems. In my book on restaurant workers, I learned that they are often scheduled with a start time but no end time.  Workers at the restaurant where I conducted particiant obersvation were scheduled as a “12 BD;” worker would arrive to work at noon and then leave when “business declines.” That could be anytime and at the discretion of the management. Such scheduling practices assume that workers are able to easily adjust home responsibilities.  For example, if an employee is forced to work late, they must have someone available to care for their children or provide needed medication to an elderly or disabled parent—and the idea that workers will have someone “on call” to perform that care work as their schedule changes is not a reality

Even if a worker is scheduled for an end time, if customers remain and the restaurant is busy, workers may be forced to stay later, a practice known as mandatory overtime. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, workers have virtually no legal recourse to challenge terminations or retaliations for refusing mandatory overtime.  These last-minute requirements and unpredictable schedules create challenges for workers. Workers who depend on public transportation may not have the means of getting to and from work and they also may not be able to meet their general family obligations. In addition, sometimes workers are “on-call”—where they are scheduled to work only if the shift is busy.  In essence, the worker needs to be able to leave at a moment’s notice to go to work. Further, schedules are affected by the time of the year: tourism and holiday seasons can lead to longer hours for workers.

We know that “restaurant server” is a growing occupation in the US, and it is also one of the lowest paid and most economically insecure. According to our research with the Restaurant Opportunities Center-United, restaurant workers 88 percent of adult servers earn an income that is economically insecure. Lack of schedule control is a key source of that insecurity. We must take a comprehensive approach to the workplace practices and the public policies that are impacting these workers’ lives and address all the elements of economic security.

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by marygatta on June 7, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by marygatta on June 7, 2013

http://wow-blog.org/2013/06/07/schedule-control-and-economic-security-in-restaurant-work/

Demanding Real Workplace Flexibility for Working Mothers

This Sunday, as the country celebrates Mother’s Day, we are reminded of the challenges that so many working families face in balancing work and family responsibilities.  In 2012, 80% of women workers reported difficulty managing work and family obligations according to a survey conducted by the National Partnership for Women and Families.  And WOW research has demonstrated that large segments of the U.S. labor force—particularly low‐wage workers in various occupations and industries—continue to have limited access to flexible workplace options. Because women, people of color, and individuals with disabilities are more likely than white males to work in low‐wage occupations, they are less likely to work for an employer who provides workplace flexibility.  This leaves the millions of women struggling to work and take care of their families in precarious situation.

Sadly, this past Wednesday, this struggle took a step closer to become even more untenable. The House passed the Workplace Family Flexibility Act (HR 1406) by a vote of 223-204 along party lines.  The Workplace Family Flexibility Act, despite its name, actually aggravates workers’ family and work struggles by offering them a false choice between earned wages and paid time off. Instead of providing employees the compensation to which they are entitled for overtime work, the bill gives employers the advantage of pressuring employees to accept future time. In doing so, it undermines protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which have supported American workers for over 75 years. (more…)

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by marygatta on May 10, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by marygatta on May 10, 2013

http://wow-blog.org/2013/05/10/demanding-real-workplace-flexibility-for-working-mothers/

Another Equal Pay Day

Today–April 9th–is Equal Pay Day.  This is the day that marks just how far into 2013, on average, American women must work in order for them to earn what men earned in 2012.  Equal Pay Day makes clear that despite the progress that has been made by women over the decades in terms of occupational access and educational attainment; these advances have not resulted in full gender equity in the labor market.  Instead one of the most significant markers of labor market success—equal pay—remains an elusive goal for women.  On average the pay gap stands at around 80 percent, and these data points are even starker for women of color.  And this is not a one-time financial loss.  The pay gap leads to a lifetime of income and wealth loss.  The cumulative impacts of the pay gap reduce women’s benefits from Social Security and other pension plans and their ability to save for retirement, housing, college educations, etc.   The United States Department of Labor notes that these lost earnings are staggering- -on average women can lose $380,000 over their career simply because of gender.

Enacting and enforcing legislation is critical to eliminating the gender wage gap.  At the Federal level, in 1963, the US passed the Equal Pay Act.  This made it illegal to pay workers differently because of their sex for jobs that require equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and that are performed under similar conditions. This was followed in 1964 with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which made it illegal to discriminate, including in wages and pay, on the basis of sex, race, color, religion and national origin .  However over the years there have been attacks on the Equal Pay Act, diminishing some of its power.  Most notably the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Supreme Court decision that ruled that the statute of limitations for presenting an equal pay lawsuit began on the date of the initial discrimination and not the date of the most recent discriminatory paycheck.  In 2009 Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stating that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new discriminatory paycheck.  Currently the Paycheck Fairness Act is pending legislation to expand the scope of the Equal Pay Act in Congress.  If passed the Paycheck Fairness Act will, among others things, require employers to demonstrate that wage differentials between men and women holding the same position and doing the same work stem from factors other than sex. Moreover, it will prohibit retaliation against workers who inquire about their employers’ wage practices or disclose their own wages. The Paycheck Fairness Act will give women vital tools against wage discrimination, including the simple measure of allowing workers to just talk about and compare salaries.

Eradicating the pay gap is truly a matter of fairness and economic survival for women.  Women’s incomes are critical to their families’ economic security and equity in pay is a direct way that can help to decrease the number of economically insecure women and children.  However the question that remains unanswered is— just how many more Equal Pay Days are still to come until women have wage equity.

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by marygatta on April 9, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Equal Pay
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Posted by marygatta on April 9, 2013

http://wow-blog.org/2013/04/09/another-equal-pay-day/

Women in Combat: Historic Progress, But Still Fighting For Equality

Women have never been absent from America’s military, serving in key roles from the American Revolution to today’s war in Afghanistan.  However as in too many of our workplaces, women have served dutifully and effectively in our armed forces without equal opportunity or just reward – until now. The Defense Secretary’s announcement that women will now be able to serve in full combat roles breaks the final glass ceiling in the military, and eliminates the last formal practice of sex discrimination by the federal government.

Early in the 1900’s military policy opened up nursing and clerical military jobs to women, though these have long been considered traditional for women. Over the past century, women have steadily earned access to nontraditional jobs, such as radio operators, medics, tank mechanics and more. Yet they remained legally excluded from the combat jobs on the front line. Indeed, the combat ban excluded women from 20 percent of jobs across the active-duty force, many of which are the very route to top leadership.And despite the fact that many women have actually served in combat roles during war,the legal exclusion largely prevented them the recognition and material benefits of combat veterans. The lifting of the military’s ban on women serving in combat enables women full legal equality in the military, provides greater access to the ladder of military leadership, and in turn, could bring an important voices and lens to military decisions and foreign affairs.

This historic change is critical for women both in and out of the military.  Combat soldier had been an occupation where women have experienced restricted access due to sexist stereotypes of their capacity.  As women take up these jobs and advance on leadership paths in the military, gender stereotypes will continue to be shattered. And for many women, especially those without access to or interest in post-secondary education, the military and many other nontraditional jobs can provide a route to economic security and equal wages.  Further the success of women in combat and other nontraditional jobs can illustrate to individuals who impede women’s progress and participation, the ignorance of their discrimination.

However while this change eliminates the legal barrier, the fight is not over. Access is only the first step.  We know that even after women gain access to previously restricted sectors, discrimination does not disappear.   Military leadership will need to ensure that other forms of discrimination, such as sexual harassment and bullying are addressed; that leadership opportunities are fairly available to women; and that work and family policies can support them.  Further it is critical that serious and prompt actions be taken to address the rising number of violent sexual assaults and crimes in the military, where women are the primary victims.

Changes in military policy that reduces occupation sex segregation can also have an impact on women in other nontraditional occupations.  Although sex segregation exists at the job level in the military, overall women are already 14% of the armed forces, as compared to only 7.2% of electronic and electrical engineers; 3.9% of machinists; 1.5% of electricians and 1.2% of automotive technicians, according to data from the US Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau. Concerted efforts to reduce the gender stereotyping and discrimination that have closed doors for women in many high-paying occupations—most of them far less dangerous, dirty or strenuous as armed combat—will need to continue to part of our workforce policy and expanded.Spillover effects can be spread to these other occupations where women are severely underrepresented; as women will continue to demonstrate they can successfully perform in nontraditional work.  Their success may encourage other women to pursue opportunities in male-dominated industries.

The federal government’s attack on sex discrimination in the military should lead all employers to open all jobs, in all industries and workplaces to women’s full, equal and safe participation.  It is now up to all of us to continue this fight—advocating for policy and practices such as affirmative action, programs to recruit and prepare women for nontraditional occupations, along with promoting cultural competency and diversity training—to ensure women reach full equity and equality in our nation’s armed forces and throughout our workplaces.

*** This piece is an expansion of Mary’s essay that appeared in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal ***

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by marygatta on January 25, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Nontradtional Occupations
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Posted by marygatta on January 25, 2013

http://wow-blog.org/2013/01/25/women-in-combat-historic-progress-but-still-fighting-for-equality/

Still Waiting at the Jersey Shore

On New Year’s Day I headed to the Ocean Place Hotel, where my husband, Mike, works in the restaurant. The Ocean Place, like so many hotels on the Jersey Shore, has become a temporary home to many families whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Many of these families are from the small town of Sea Bright –  80 percent of whose residents cannot return to their homes, without extensive repairs or complete rebuilding.

The lounge was busy that evening, as it has been since the storm, as the families in the hotel do not have kitchens in their rooms so they are dependent on the restaurants for their meals. As we were eating dinner the televisions had live coverage of the House of Representatives voting on the fiscal cliff deal. Discussion at the bar was focused on another piece of legislation that the House  was supposed to vote on that night—the Sandy Relief Bill. Of significance in that bill is $9 billion that would increase the borrowing authority of the National Flood Insurance Program for Sandy from $20.7 billion to $30.4 billion, along with $51 billion to provide immediate help for victims and other recovery and rebuilding efforts.

(more…)

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by marygatta on January 3, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by marygatta on January 3, 2013

http://wow-blog.org/2013/01/03/still-waiting-at-the-jersey-shore/

Hurricane Sandy and Economic Security

Although I work at Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) in Washington DC, I have the privilege to still live at the Jersey Shore.  So when Hurricane Sandy hit the shore so hard about a month ago, I had a front row seat to the destruction of the homes, jobs, businesses, beaches and lives, and all the incredible devastation left behind.

Hurricane Sandy impacted the economic security of almost all the residents of the Jersey Shore.  There are so many workers whose economic security (some of which was very precarious even before the storm) has been negatively affected.  In particular I think about the restaurant workers I have interviewed for my research over the past 10 years, many of whom were not able to work in the week or so after the storm because of prolonged power outages or damages to their homes, cars or places of work. And there will be workers who will be not employed for a long time, as the restaurants and hotels that worked at just a day before the storm have just washed out to the Atlantic Ocean.  Be it at Sallie Tees in Monmouth Beach; Matisse in Belmar; or the waterfront restaurants that line the beaches at Pier Village in Long Branch or the iconic Asbury Park boardwalk, our restaurant workers were impacted in the short term, and many will continue to be in the long term.

Research that WOW has conducted with the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United found that a large majority restaurant servers were far from economic security even before the storm.  New Jersey servers earn a base pay of $2.13 an hour; depending on tips from customers for the bulk of their income.  Using our Basic Economic Security Tables (BEST) we found that nationally eighty-eight percent of adult servers who worked in 2011 had individual earnings below the BEST threshold for their families. Of these individuals, 83 percent are women. Looking across gender, WOW found that 90 percent of female servers who worked in the last 12 months had individual earnings below the security lined.  This means that nine out of ten female servers were not paid enough to enjoy basic economic peace of mind. Among males, this figure stands at 74 percent.  And, what happens when the server is the main breadwinner?  Eighty-one percent of households headed by an adult server have total household income below the BEST.  And women head 80 percent of these households—51 percent single, and 26 percent single mothers.   So now add on the loss of weeks’ or months’ work, and you have an economic catastrophe for these families.

However amongst this economic devastation, I had the opportunity to volunteer with New Jersey’s Assistant Commissioner of Labor, Employment and Training, Mary Ellen Clark and Monmouth County’s Workforce Investment Board Director, Eileen Higgins, as they and their staff went to storm shelters throughout New Jersey, armed with laptop computers to sign individuals’ up for Disaster Unemployment Insurance.   Disaster unemployment insurance is federal program that provides income support for workers who were not able to work during the storm, because their place of employment was closed or they could not get to work because of the storm. This program is a life saver to provide needed income for these workers.  And the presence of workforce officials and staff being deployed throughout the state to the places where people were—not counting on people to know about the programs or assuming they could just go to a One Stop Center—was amazing to see.  The idea of employment programs going to the people in the field allows for workforce development to be integrated into our communities—at a time when the income supports are a matter of survival.  This was graphically illustrated to me when I met a waitress who was down to her last $20 at one of the shelters.  She began to cry when we told her about the disaster unemployment insurance.

Of course the disaster unemployment meets a critical immediate need, but many of the restaurant workers will need longer term support to move toward a semblance of economic security in the months and years to come. After such massive devastation, the focus will be on reconstruction and job creation, however we need to be careful not to fall back into a belief system that “any job is a good job.”  We need to increase minimum wages; ensure health benefits; provide paid sick days and family leave programs; and enact policies that provide workers with some schedule control.   Perhaps one positive thing that can emerge from a storm that devastated our restaurants and hotels is that we can have renewed attention to the economic security of all the workers who will once again return to serve us our breakfasts, dinners and margaritas on the Jersey Shore and throughout the country.

For the report “Tipped Over The Edge – Gender Inequality in the Restaurant Industry visit: http://rocunited.org/tipped-over-the-edge-gender-inequity-in-the-restaurant-industry/

For information on Disaster Unemployment Insurance visit: https://njsuccess.dol.state.nj.us/html/uimain.html

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by marygatta on November 27, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by marygatta on November 27, 2012

http://wow-blog.org/2012/11/27/hurricane-sandy-and-economic-security/

Moving to Equity?

“More Men Enter Fields Dominated by Women”, on the front page of Monday’s New York Times, highlighted changes in the gender composition of occupations. The New York Times’ Shalia DeWan and Robert Gebeloff extended a study that Rutgers sociologist Patricia Roos and I had conducted to better understand gender shifts in occupations in the final three decades of the 20th century. Until the 1970s, there was little change in the extent to which men and women worked in different occupations. However, during the 1970s, significant occupational desegregation by sex occurred, as women began to move rapidly into more prestigious and better-paying male occupations. These trends continued throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s. Knowing that occupational sex segregation is a key factor that contributes to the gender pay gap, we wanted to know whether integrated occupations would lead to greater gender equity and declining sex differences in labor market rewards.

(more…)

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by marygatta on May 24, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Equal Pay, Jobs
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Posted by marygatta on May 24, 2012

http://wow-blog.org/2012/05/24/moving-to-equity/

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