I've seen this issue as well, and additionally if I switch lots and play for a few days and then switch back I don't have a schedule for when the character should be going to work, but I have an option on the phone to cancel the gig instead of look for gigs. Since the phone options and work panel don't agree I have to believe this is a bug, and if it is a design feature it is an ill considered one. Personally I'd prefer to have a setting to freeze lots when you are not on them, though that could also be odd when the sims meet someone in another lot then return frozen to their own lot.
Of course even stranger is when I go for an outing with several characters, and when they return to the home lot the one I'm following arrives to find the others at the lot in the middle of other activities as if they have been there the whole time...
