New York City Compliance Reminder: NYC Fair Workweek for Fast Food & Retail

Panko Compliance · May 31, 2026

## What it is The NYC Fair Workweek Law (effective Nov 2017, expanded in 2021) requires fast food employers to publish work schedules 14 days in advance, pay premiums for any schedule changes after that, and prohibits scheduling employees for back-to-back closing+opening shifts ('clopening') without their written consent and a $100 premium. It also restricts when a fast food employer can fire someone — terminations require 'just cause' after 30 days, which is a higher bar than NY's default at-will standard. ## What compliance looks like 1. Publish schedules 14 days in advance. Post in the workplace AND give a copy to each worker by hand, email, or app. 2. Premium pay for changes. Adding hours within 14 days = $10–$45 per shift. Cutting hours = $10–$75 per shift. The premium scales with how close to the shift the change happens. 3. Clopening. If a shift ends at midnight and the next starts before 11 AM, you owe $100 plus written employee consent. 4. Offer extra hours to existing employees before hiring new staff. NYC requires you to post available shifts internally for 3 days before posting externally. 5. Just cause termination. After 30 days of employment, you can only fire someone for 'just cause' or 'bona fide economic reason' — and you must give written notice with the reason. 6. Records. Keep schedule + premium-pay records for 3 years. NYC DCWP can subpoena them. ## Penalties for non-compliance Schedule change without premium: $300 per violation. Failure to post advance schedule: $500 per occurrence. Clopening without consent: $200 per shift. Retaliatory termination: reinstatement + back wages + $500 + attorney's fees. Failure to keep records: $200 per missing record. NYC DCWP is the enforcement agency and runs both random audits and complaint-driven investigations. The plaintiff's bar treats Fair Workweek violations the same as wage theft — these get litigated. --- Full guide with sources: https://alerts.getpanko.app/compliance/nyc/fair-workweek

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