Keeping up with evolving labor laws is a never-ending challenge for many restaurants across the US. Laws are regularly rewritten and modified at the local, state, and federal levels. For restaurant brands on the fast track for growth, this can be a serious roadblock when it comes to scheduling and labor management.
Laws can vary greatly across different states—from minimum wage, to minor laws, to Fair Workweek. This makes compliance incredibly challenging for multi-unit operators who operate across different regions. But for all operators, receiving a labor law violation is costly and can permanently tarnish a brand’s reputation. Despite this, many restaurant groups still lack an effective strategy to manage compliance system-wide.
In this challenging environment, restaurants need to create and implement a long-term compliance strategy with a coordinated approach across departments. Your strategy should be a living, breathing, documented program that is adapted as needed to meet the necessary regulatory requirements. But before you can create a successful compliance strategy, you must first evaluate the current state of your restaurant operation.
Current Processes
Growth Strategy
Managing Risk
Roles & Responsibilities:
Monitoring & Reporting
Start using the questions above to drive your discussions around compliance
The answers to each of these questions should reveal important information about your restaurant’s current approach to compliance. Most organizations find they have room to improve because compliance is a constantly moving target. Laws like Fair Workweek are evolving quickly, and they are not always easy to decipher.
Related Read: The Restaurant Operator’s Guide to Fair Workweek
Restaurants must find ways to adapt their daily operations to the current legal landscape. Every day, managers are creating or revising schedules that are heavily impacted by labor laws. During shifts, managers ensure that employees are clocking out on time, taking breaks, and all safety precautions are followed. After the shift, management must ensure that everyone is paid correctly according to the applicable laws, including minimum wage, tipped minimum wage, shared tips, and more. Compliance touches each of these aspects, but it’s often neglected.
For brands that operate stores across different jurisdictions, compliance is even more complicated. Laws are evolving quickly, and most restaurant managers are constantly being pulled in different directions. If your strategy is to simply press forward on an email about upcoming changes in minimum wage, you are not setting your stores up for successful adherence to the law.
Instead, labor law compliance should be purposefully integrated into your restaurants’ daily operations, from top to bottom. Although it is a complex undertaking, you can rest assured that investing in compliance is a worthwhile effort. Modern technology can alleviate the burden of managing labor laws and give you peace of mind for your restaurant operation. Every restaurant manager can create schedules confidently with scheduling software that automatically alerts you when a law is violated. By staying ahead of changing labor laws, you can future-proof your restaurant operation for the road ahead and ensure a future that is profitable and violation-free.
Get in touch with us today! Our team of experts will show you how Crunchtime will help your restaurant maintain full compliance, with less effort.