New York City Employee Temporary Scheduling Change Mandate

There has been a lot of recent focus on the rules governing employee schedules in New York State. Currently, there is a bill pending on new call-in pay regulations, which would penalize employers who failed to publish employee schedules with enough lead time, changed schedules in the last minute, or required employees to fill a schedule in the last minute.

Effective July 18, 2018, New York City passed a law providing further power to scheduled employees. Under the new mandate, employees are permitted two schedule changes per calendar year for “personal events.” Personal Events is a broadly defined term, but includes all circumstances for which an employee could take leave under the Earned Sick Time Act, legal proceedings, or care for certain individuals.

Specifically, under the act employees can request:

• A limited alteration in the hours, times or locations where they work
• Using paid time off
• Working remotely
• Swapping or shifting work hours
• Using short-term unpaid leave

The request is good for one business day, or employees can use their two changes on the same case for two days in a row.

The mandate does not universally apply to all employees. In order to be eligible, the employee has to have been employed for at least 120 days, cannot already have schedule change terms negotiated in their collective bargaining agreement, and must work in NYC for at least 80 hours in a calendar year. There are further industry exemptions for certain roles and employers in the entertainment industry.

Employees can make their request in writing or verbally to the employer, and must notify their supervisor as soon as possible. Though request and approval can happen verbally, the mandate has additional procedural requirements to formally document the request.

Violations of the mandate can result in a $500 penalty to employers.

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