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Imagine a hypothetical cashier scheduled to work a 9 a.m. But the ones who will really have their schedules turned inside out are those who have been gaming the system. Workbrain is the name of the Atlanta-based company providing the scheduling and tracking software, although many cast members are referring to the entire new system as “Workbrain Time Recording,” perhaps because “Workbrain” sounds somewhat nefarious, like some evil scheme cooked up behind closed doors in the Team Disney Anaheim building.Ĭertainly many cast members see the added tasks as a further inconvenience.

A new system to formally assign and track the breaks will replace ETRS in April. The first phase—clocking in and out for lunch—goes into effect February 19. Under Disneyland's new Accurate Time and Attendance system, cast members will still scan their ID cards to gain access to the park, but then also have to clock in once they reach their work station, and again when they go on and return from their lunch break. And, six weeks ago, a jury awarded thousands of California Wal-Mart employees $172 million for not getting lunch breaks. In the last few years, dozens of class-action suits have been filed against ill-prepared employers. In court, the entire burden of proving someone did receive a particular break falls on the employer. It's that, to protect themselves legally, they've got to be able to prove it.Įmployees who do not receive their mandatory time off can sue for one-hour's pay for every lunch break missed. It's not that Disney doesn't want to give the breaks the company has rarely insisted employees work through their lunch period. That's put Disney in a tenuous position, ever since a California law was passed in 2001 requiring employers to give a 30-minute, unpaid lunch break to anyone working at least six hours.

But most everyone else—custodial, foods, merchandise, guest relations, maintenance, security, and so on—was largely on the honor system. Attractions employees also have to check in for their assignments, breaks and lunch with a CDS terminal. Cast members scan their ID card, then walk to their work location and report for duty, usually with a lead or manager. For the vast majority of workers that place is the check-in point called Harbour Pointe, located near the old Harbor House entry gate that was used in prior decades. Cast members must have known a change was coming soon as, over the past five months, over 100 time clocks began mysteriously appearing in almost every backstage work station, particularly in breakrooms and building lobbies.įor about the past 20 years, most cast members have had to “clock in” only as they arrived at and exited the park through an employee entrance. Several years ago, the Human Resources department formed a task force to find a better system to replace ETRS, one that better integrated with GEMS and CDS. ETRS should have been replaced 10 years ago, but it was just so ingrained in every process Disneyland uses that it hung on for far too long.” ∾TRS,” explained one Disneyland manager, “is an antiquated and hopelessly outdated computer program created in the 1980s to track and record the hours cast members work each day, which then gets sent to payroll and creates the paychecks each week. Well, there was one last remaining system hanging on from prehistoric days≾TRS, the Employee Time Recording System, which electronically records employees clock in and clock out and send the information to payroll. Or nearly caused a revolt when it replaced its time-honored costuming system with FasTrack (“ Costume Foolery,” 10/23/01)? Or created parkwide panic by computerizing scheduling with the GEMS—Group Employee Master Schedules (“ Cast Members' Big Secrets,” 8/13/01)? Remember the mass hysteria when Disneyland switched its venerable practice of “rotations” with the computerized CDS≼ast Deployment System (“ The Virtual Lead,” 12/29/00)? But change can be especially unnerving at a place like the Magic Kingdom, which constantly preaches traditions and markets the timeless. Like people at most jobs, Disneyland cast members are on the whole resistant to change. Time Bandits Cast members nervous about new Disneyland system