Major retailers under scrutiny for work schedules

New York's Attorney General sent letters to 13 major retailers scrutinizing their practice of unpredictable shift scheduling.

The letter, addressed to companies including Target (TGT), JCPenney (JCP), and Gap (GPS), questions the use of systems that require employees to show up with little notice, or "on-call" scheduling. In some cases employees are notified by phone, email or text message hours before a shift whether or not they are needed for the day. According to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, this type of scheduling may violate New York law.

Schneiderman's office alleges that the on-call requirement "interferes with such employees’ ability to obtain supplemental employment in order to ensure financial security for their families."

The New York Attorney General also sent the letter to Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), J. Crew, L Brands (LB), Burlington Stores (BURL), TJX Companies (TJX), Urban Outfitters (URBN), Crocs (CROX), Ann (ANN), Sears (SHLD) and Williams-Sonoma (WSM). The retailers have until May 4 to respond to the letter.

Yahoo Finance’s Aaron Task notes that other states may follow suit.

"The question of whether we see more of this depends on the law in each state," he says. "In New York state if you have someone who's scheduled to work and you tell them you don't need them, you have to pay them at least four hours."

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Last year, Starbucks (SBUX) revised its scheduling policies after complaints of irregular work hours. In response to a New York Times article, the coffee company vowed to post employee schedules one week in advance. Task notes that ending on-call work scheduling will put pressure on margins.

“If they have to either pay someone for four hours…or do away with this kind of scheduling altogether, then you're taking the risk that you don't have enough workers you might have too many workers and your costs go up,” he says.

Task adds that this move is part of the push for higher minimum wages.

“I also note WalMart (WMT), which wasn't named by New York state's Attorney General, in addition to raising wages for hourly employees, they're also investing a lot in their scheduling to give their employees more control," he says.