“Fair Work Week" Laws to Affect Payroll Processes for NYC Fast Food Restaurants.

On May 30, 2017, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a legislative package consisting of five bills, collectively called the “Fair Work Week” laws.

The Fair Work Week legislation aims to ensure predictable paychecks and work schedules by imposing restrictions on retail and fast food employers. These include strict notice and recordkeeping requirements, and sets forth methods of enforcement, penalties, damages, and fines for failure to comply.

According to the Shelby Report, “The fast food scheduling-related bills require fast food employers to give written notice of schedules to their employees no less than two weeks in advance, written “good faith” estimates of weekly hours to new employees, regulate the practice of “clopenings,” or consecutive closing, then opening, shifts, and would also require fast food employers to offer any new shifts to current employees before they hire anyone else. If a fast food employer makes changes to an employee’s schedule with less than 14 days’ notice, the employer must pay the employee a premium.”

An additional fast food industry-related bill requires fast food employers to deduct and remit voluntary contributions to nonprofits when their employees make such a request in writing, if the recipient nonprofits meet certain requirements.

The new requirements are set to become effective on Nov. 26, 2017.

Enforcement of these Fair Work Week laws will fall under the jurisdiction of the City’s Office of Labor Policy and Standards (OLPS), which is housed within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA).

It’s not totally a done deal, however. The Cuomo administration may override NYC's new worker scheduling rules, according to the New York Daily News, which reported that Gov. Andrew Cuomo may direct the New York State Department of Labor to issue regulations that, if adopted, would effectively preempt the Fair Work Week legislation. As reported, these proposed regulations would apply to all minimum wage earners in New York State, and would create similar but less strict restrictions.

For these reasons, employers that could be affected by the Fair Work Week laws would be well-advised to review their current payroll and scheduling practices now, and also monitor whether the laws do, in fact, become effective as of Nov. 26, 2017.

To discuss more about how these laws will affect your payroll processes, feel free to call your Proliant Account Manager.