New York City Predictive Scheduling Law

New York City has joined San Francisco, Emeryville, and Seattle in passing predictive scheduling laws, which require certain employers to give employees a minimum amount of advance notice of their work schedule.

A number of other states and municipalities have considered similar regulations, and we anticipate that more laws like this will be offered up in state legislatures and in city councils across the nation. The New York City predictive scheduling law takes effect on November 26, 2017. The most essential requirements for employers can be found below.

Retail employers with 20 or more employees will be required to do the following:

• Provide employees with a written work schedule at least 72 hours in advance of the first shift on the schedule.
• Give employees at least 72 hours’ notice before scheduling or cancelling a shift; employees who are interested in more work may consent in writing to the scheduling of a new shift.
• Directly notify employees of any schedule changes (employees cannot be expected to come in or call in just to check for changes).
• Keep records of work schedules for the previous three years and provide them upon request.

Fast food establishments that are part of a chain (30+ stores nationally, whether franchised or not) are subject to different rules. They must do the following:

• Provide new employees with written, good faith estimates of their schedule, including dates, times, and locations, for the duration of their employment.
• Provide employees with a week’s worth of scheduling at least 14 days in advance.
• Pay a “schedule change premium” of $10 to $75 if schedule changes are made on short notice; the greater the notice, the lesser the premium.
• Pay employees an extra $100 for “clopening” shifts (a closing shift followed by an opening shift) that are less than 11 hours apart.
• When looking to fill additional shifts, offer the work to current employees before transferring employees from other locations or hiring new workers.

Employers in New York City should begin to plan for this law to take effect. Many employers will need to make drastic changes to the way they formulate and distribute schedules.

Although the law is clearly intended to reduce last minute schedule changes by imposing penalties and premium pay, some employers may find that they would rather pay the penalty or premium to have the convenience of scheduling “clopening” shifts or making last minute changes. We recommend, however, that employers do the math prior to deciding to just take the financial hit. These penalties are likely to pile up fast, and since employees will no doubt be discussing the changes with one another, it’s unlikely that violations will go unnoticed.

Read more about the law here. Contact us at (518) 373-4111 to learn how GTM keeps clients compliant with labor laws like this one.