US scheduling laws, state by state

• Daily overtime

  Cal. Lab. Code §510

  Hours beyond 8 in a day pay 1.5x. Hours beyond 12 in a day pay 2x. The 7th consecutive day in a workweek triggers premiums on the first 8 hours and 2x after.

• Meal period requirement

  Cal. Lab. Code §512

  Employees working more than 5 hours are entitled to an unpaid 30-minute meal period before the 5th hour. Missing or short meal periods owe a 1-hour-of-pay penalty.

• Rest periods

  Cal. Wage Order 4-2001 §12

  10-minute paid rest period for every 4 hours worked (or major fraction). Rest periods can't be combined with meal periods.

• One day of rest in seven

  Cal. Lab. Code §551-552

  Employees must have at least one day off in every 7-day workweek. Some narrow industry exemptions exist; agriculture and some emergency roles excluded.

• Reporting time pay

  Cal. Wage Order 4-2001 §5

  If an employee reports to work as scheduled but is sent home or works less than half the scheduled shift, the employer owes half the scheduled day's wages (minimum 2 hours, max 4 hours).

• Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act

  Cal. Lab. Code §245.5

  5 days (40 hours) of paid sick leave per year, accrued 1 hour per 30 hours worked. Frontloading 5 days at the start of year is allowed.

California by industry:RestaurantsRetailHealthcareCall centersManufacturing

• Fair Work Week Act — 14-day advance notice

  ORS §653.412

  Covered employers (retail, hospitality, food service with 500+ global employees) must provide written work schedules at least 14 days in advance.

• Predictability pay

  ORS §653.450

  Schedule changes within 14 days trigger 'predictability pay' — typically 1 hour at the regular rate added per change, with higher amounts for shifts cancelled with less than 24 hours notice.

• Right to rest between shifts

  ORS §653.455

  Employees can decline shifts scheduled less than 10 hours after a previous shift's end. Employers must pay 1.5x for hours worked during the 10-hour window if the employee consents.

• Right to request schedule input

  ORS §653.428

  Employees can request preferred locations, hours, and shift times. The employer must consider the request in good faith.

Oregon by industry:RestaurantsRetailHealthcareCall centersManufacturing

• Chicago Fair Workweek — 10/14-day advance notice

  Chicago Mun. Code §1-25

  Covered employers (100+ employees globally, 50+ in Chicago) in retail, hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing, and others must post schedules 10 days in advance (rising to 14 days). Industries vary slightly in coverage thresholds.

• Predictability pay (Chicago)

  Chicago Mun. Code §1-25-050

  Schedule changes inside the notice window trigger predictability pay — 1 hour additional wages per added shift or extended shift; up to 50% of cancelled shift wages for short-notice cancellations.

• Statewide One Day Rest in Seven Act

  820 ILCS 140/2

  All employees in Illinois must receive at least 24 consecutive hours off in every calendar week. Limited industry exemptions.

• Paid Leave for All Workers Act

  820 ILCS 192

  Effective January 2024 — all Illinois employees accrue at least 40 hours of paid leave per year, usable for any reason. 1 hour earned per 40 worked.

Illinois by industry:RestaurantsRetailHealthcareCall centersManufacturing

• Daily and consecutive-hours overtime

  7 CCR 1103-1 (COMPS Order #38), Rule 4

  1.5x for hours over 40 in a workweek, over 12 in a workday, OR over 12 consecutive hours regardless of when the workday starts — whichever calculation pays more. The consecutive-hours trigger is the one scheduling software usually misses.

• Meal period on shifts over 5 hours

  7 CCR 1103-1 (COMPS Order #38), Rule 5.1

  An uninterrupted, duty-free 30-minute meal period once a shift exceeds 5 consecutive hours, and — to the extent practical — at least one hour after the shift starts and one hour before it ends. The employee must be fully relieved of duty for it to be unpaid.

• Paid rest periods

  7 CCR 1103-1 (COMPS Order #38), Rule 5.2

  A 10-minute PAID rest period for every 4 hours worked or major fraction thereof, positioned near the middle of each 4-hour block. A rest break that is interrupted or cannot be taken counts as paid work time.

• Twelve-hour shifts are legal but expensive

  Nothing prohibits a 12-hour shift in Colorado. The consequence is purely financial: cross 12 hours in the day or 12 consecutive hours and the premium starts, so a 12-hour rotation needs the boundary treated as a hard line rather than a target.

Colorado by industry:RestaurantsRetailHealthcareCall centersManufacturing

• Philadelphia Fair Workweek — 14-day advance notice

  Phila. Code ch. 9-4600

  Covered employers must give written notice of an employee's schedule at least 14 days ahead. Coverage is narrow but catches chains: hospitality, retail, and food-service establishments with 250+ employees worldwide AND 30+ locations worldwide, franchises included.

• Philadelphia Fair Workweek — predictability pay

  Phila. Code ch. 9-4600

  One hour of predictability pay at the employee's regular rate when the employer adds time to a shift or changes its date, time, or location with no loss of hours. Cancelling or cutting hours carries larger premiums. It is owed on top of ordinary wages.

• Philadelphia Fair Workweek — 9 hours between shifts

  Phila. Code ch. 9-4600

  Employees are entitled to at least 9 hours of rest between shifts spanning two workdays. Scheduling a pair without that gap requires the employee's written consent AND a $40 premium — the clopening rule, priced.

• Statewide: no state predictive-scheduling law

  Outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has no predictive-scheduling requirement and follows the federal baseline of 1.5x beyond 40 hours in a workweek. A Pittsburgh or Allentown operator is not covered by the Fair Workweek rules above, and neither is a Philadelphia employer under the 250-employee or 30-location thresholds.

• Breaks are mandated for minors only

  Pa. Child Labor Act

  Pennsylvania imposes no meal or rest break requirement on adult employees. For minors the Child Labor Act is specific: no minor may be employed more than five hours continuously without an interval of at least 30 minutes, and no period shorter than 30 minutes counts as interrupting a continuous stretch — so two 15-minute breaks do not reset the clock.

Pennsylvania by industry:RestaurantsRetailHealthcareCall centersManufacturing

• 80-hour mandatory overtime cap per two weeks

  26 M.R.S.A. §603

  An employee cannot be required to work more than 80 hours of overtime in any consecutive 2-week period, where overtime means hours beyond 40 in a calendar week. Voluntary hours beyond that are a different question from mandated ones.

• Exceptions to the cap

  26 M.R.S.A. §603

  The 80-hour limit does not apply to work responding to a Governor-declared emergency, essential public services (utilities, snowplowing, road maintenance, telecommunications), work protecting public health or safety outside the normal course of business, seasonal employers operating under 26 weeks a year, or medical interns and residents.

• Nurses: 12 consecutive hours and the 10-hour recovery

  26 M.R.S.A. §603

  A nurse cannot be disciplined for refusing to work more than 12 consecutive hours except in an unforeseen emergency where overtime is a last resort for patient safety. A nurse mandated beyond 12 hours must then receive at least 10 consecutive hours off immediately afterwards.

Maine by industry:RestaurantsRetailHealthcareCall centersManufacturing

• Daily overtime past 8 hours

  AS 23.10.060

  1.5x the regular rate for all hours worked over 8 in a day as well as over 40 in a week. Unlike Nevada's, the daily trigger is not conditioned on the employee's wage rate.

• Flexible Work Hour Plan waives the daily trigger

  AS 23.10.060(d)

  Employer and employee may agree in writing to a Flexible Work Hour Plan — commonly four 10-hour days — and file it with the Department of Labor. Once certified, the 8-hour daily trigger is waived up to 10 hours; beyond 10 in a day or 40 in a week, overtime resumes. Participation must be voluntary and not a condition of employment, and the department responds within five working days.

• No general meal or rest break mandate for adults

  Alaska requires breaks for minors under 18 but imposes no meal or rest period requirement on adult employees. If your team takes breaks, that is your policy rather than a statutory floor — which does not make the records less useful.

Alaska by industry:RestaurantsRetailHealthcareCall centersManufacturing

• Right to request a flexible working arrangement

  21 V.S.A. §309

  An employee may request changes to their regular working arrangement — number of days or hours, arrival and departure times, working from home, or job sharing. The employer must discuss the request in good faith and must consider requests using the statutory procedure at least twice per calendar year.

• The employer's grounds for declining are defined

  21 V.S.A. §309

  A request may be declined where granting it would be inconsistent with business operations or legal and contractual obligations. The statute defines that: additional cost burden, a detrimental effect on aggregate employee morale, a detrimental effect on the ability to meet consumer demand, or an inability to reorganise work among existing staff.

• The decision must be communicated

  21 V.S.A. §309

  The employer must notify the employee of the decision on their request. The obligation is procedural — discuss, consider against defined grounds, and respond — rather than an obligation to grant it.

Vermont by industry:RestaurantsRetailHealthcareCall centersManufacturing