NY · 5 rules · reviewed 2026-05
New York scheduling laws
New York layers state-level requirements with NYC's Fair Workweek Law (2017), the strictest predictive-scheduling ordinance in the country for retail and fast-food. Spread-of-hours pay and the day-of-rest law apply statewide.
This is a reference, not legal advice. Every rule below links to its primary source — a statute, an ordinance, or the enforcing agency — so you can read the law rather than a summary of a summary. Consult counsel before relying on any of it.
2 of these 5 rules apply regardless of industry; 3 bind only certain sectors, and each one says which. Most US predictive-scheduling law is municipal, so where a rule comes from a city ordinance its name says so — a company can easily have one location covered and two not.
NYC Fair Workweek Law — advance notice
NYC Admin. Code §20-1201 et seq.Retail and fast-food employers in NYC with 20+ employees nationally must post schedules 14 days in advance. Late changes trigger 'premium pay' ranging from $10 to $75 depending on timing and shift change type.
Applies to:RestaurantsRetail
In Weekwright: Publish weeks ahead and audit-log every change inside the 14-day window. Compliance team can compute premium-pay liability from the audit log without reconstructing what happened.
NYC Fair Workweek — 'clopening' restrictions
NYC Admin. Code §20-1232Fast-food workers cannot be scheduled for closing followed by opening shift with less than 11 hours between, unless they consent in writing AND receive $100 premium.
Applies to:Restaurants
In Weekwright: MIN_REST_HOURS_BETWEEN_SHIFTS preset to 11 BLOCKING enforces it. The conflict detector refuses to publish a violating shift; managers can override with documented consent if needed.
Spread of hours
12 NYCRR §142-2.4If the time between an employee's first and last shifts in a day exceeds 10 hours, employers must pay 1 additional hour at the state minimum wage (statewide, hospitality and several other industries).
In Weekwright: The audit log shows shift starts/ends with timestamps. Combined with the org's hourly rate setup, you can flag spread-of-hours triggers for payroll without manually reconciling timesheets.
Day of rest
NY Lab. Law §161Most employees must have at least 24 consecutive hours of rest in every calendar week. Specific industries (some hospitality and healthcare roles) carry narrower carve-outs.
In Weekwright: MAX_CONSECUTIVE_DAYS preset to 6 BLOCKING enforces it across all verticals.
Predictive scheduling 'right to flex'
NYC Admin. Code §20-1241Fast-food employees may request a 'flexible work arrangement.' The employer must consider in good faith and respond in writing.
Applies to:Restaurants
In Weekwright: Per-member availability supports PREFERRED windows alongside AVAILABLE/UNAVAILABLE. AI drafts respect PREFERRED ranges — flex requests get honored automatically when feasible.
Primary sources
Read the law itself. These are the statutes, ordinances and agencies the rules above are taken from.
New York by industry
The same statutes read for one vertical, with the scheduling patterns that vertical actually runs.
Other states
Again, because it matters: this is not legal advice. It is a reading aid over primary sources, maintained by a software company rather than a law firm. It surfaces obvious gaps so you can act on them — it does not tell you whether a specific ordinance applies to your specific business. Consult counsel for that. Found something out of date? hello@weekwright.com — a correction to a primary source is welcome from anyone, customer or not.
Rules your New York schedule actually checks.
Weekwright enforces the baseline for where each shift happens, before you publish. Free for a single location, up to 20 employees.