New York City Council Amends Fair Workweek Law

The New York City Council recently amended the Fair Workweek Law, effective July 18, 2018, to allow employees to make two temporary schedule changes each calendar year for personal events. Qualifying personal events include: care for a child under 18, care for a household member who depends on the employee for medical care or the needs of daily living, legal proceedings involving a family member, or any reason that an employee may use leave under the NYC Paid Sick Leave Law.

The Fair Workweek Law was enacted in 2017 by the New York City Council to require employers of fast food and retail workers to give those workers more predictable work schedules. Under the law, fast food employers are required to give workers 14 days of advance notice of their work schedule and pay fast-food workers a $100 premium for closing the restaurant and opening it the following day, with less than 11 hours between shifts. Retail employers are required to give workers 3 days of advance notice of their work schedule and no shift cancellations with less than 3 days’ notice, among other requirements. The Fair Workweek Law also requires fast food employers to offer existing workers the opportunity to work open shifts before hiring new workers.

The amendments enacted this summer apply to all industries, not just fast food and retail. In order to be eligible under the amendments, the employee must work over 80 hours per calendar year in New York City and must be employed more than 120 days to be covered by the law. Bear in mind, however that government employees and certain employees subject to a collective bargaining agreement are not covered by the law. For those employees who are covered by the law, these amendments allow them to make schedule changes for the personal events described above up to twice a year.

For more information or if you believe your employer could have violated these requirements, contact Borrelli & Associates, P.L.L.C. to schedule a consultation.