• Background knowledge
• Who is covered by the New York City Fair Workweek Law in Retail?
• What are Fair Workweek Requirements and how can Deputy help?
  
  • Advanced notice for scheduling
  • Schedule change consent
  • Recordkeeping

Background knowledge

This article assumes you have read these general articles on Fair Workweek:

• What is Fair Workweek?
• Introduction to setting up Fair Workweek

You can also find more information about New York City Retail Fair Workweek here:

• FAQ PDF
• Official NYC website
• Ordinance
• Regulations

Note: If team members clock in and out using the Deputy Kiosk for iPad or Deputy Time Clock for Android, make sure these apps have been updated to the latest versions. Fair Workweek will only be supported on iOS Kiosk version 5.3.7 and Android Time Clock version 0.11.0 and beyond.

Who is covered by the New York City Fair Workweek Law in Retail?

In order to be covered by NYC Retail Fair Workweek laws, a business must:

1. Operate one or more retail store in New York City that are primarily involved in the sale of consumer goods; and
2. employ 20 or more employees at the business's retail stores in NYC.

For guidance on whether your business’s employees are covered by these protections, please consult with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) for professional guidance, or read the FAQ.

What are Fair Workweek Requirements and how can Deputy help?

Advanced notice for scheduling

Fair Workweek requires managers to provide employees with work schedules in advance. For New York Retail businesses, this has to be at least 72 hours in advance of the first shift on the work schedule.

How can Deputy help?

Deputy allows managers to schedule shifts well into the future - and when published, employees will always have access to their shifts, allowing them to plan ahead. Read more at:

• Build and publish a schedule for advance notice for your team members

Schedule change consent

Subject to limited exceptions, employers cannot add more than 15 minutes in time to an employee's shift or schedule a new shift without their consent within 72 hours from the scheduled shift start time. Consent must be 100% voluntary.

This includes situations such as:

• adding more than 15 minutes to a shift or
• changing the day or time of a shift by more than 15minutes or
• requests to stay more than 15 minutes late to cover rush or
• request to cover for another employee who called out sick.

Consent must be documented in writing, or electronically and must reference the specific shift they are consenting to change.

Additionally, subject to limited exceptions, it is unlawful for employers to cancel or shorten an employee's shift by more than 15 minutes within 72 hours of its scheduled start time. 

How can Deputy help?

• When scheduling in Deputy with consent enabled, scheduling managers will be warned if they have created or changed a shift that will require consent from the team member and may trigger a pay premium.
• In the event of last-minute unscheduled changes to shifts, consent is also captured through the use of shift questions at clock in and out. Shift questions are used to capture consent ahead of time for changed shifts, when an employee clocks in early or late, or to attest to missed meal and rest breaks. These get recorded in the timesheet for audit purposes. If you have assigned the New York Fair Workweek - Retail pay rate to your team member, we automatically provide attestation questions for the following scenarios:
  • Unscheduled Shift
  • Early In
  • Early Out
  • Late In
  • Late Out 

Note: Deputy may still ask team members to consent to changes to the schedule that are 15 minutes or less in duration.

Recordkeeping

Fair Workweek requires key information to be stored for several years that show compliance with the Fair Workweek laws. This includes copies of rosters, timesheets, consents to schedule changes, records of all schedule changes and proof that open shifts were offered to current employees.

How can Deputy help?

Deputy will electronically store records saved in the system, and in the event of an audit can provide employers with a copy of their records on request. Employers may also create Fair Workweek specific reports within Deputy to provide to auditors.