§7-62101
Advance schedule
Post the work schedule 14 days out. Track deviations from the regular schedule at a 15% variance threshold.
8,385 NYC fast‑food locations must follow a five‑part Fair Workweek regime. Mainstream scheduling tools cover roughly three of the five. The one they all skip — access‑to‑hours — is the one that produces seven‑figure settlements.
The NYC Fair Workweek Law is not a policy document — it’s 6 RCNY Subchapter F, 51 sections of codified rules with worked examples, delivery‑method requirements, and defined premium tiers. Operators aren’t careless. Their software just wasn’t built for it.
The scheduling tools most operators already run were designed to build shifts, not to model access‑to‑hours (§7-624) — the rule that requires you to prove, in writing, that every existing employee at every location got the chance to claim available hours before you hired someone new.
“Prove you offered it before you hired” is the sentence that turns a $10,000 audit into a $2.3M settlement.
Codified at 6 RCNY §7-620 – §7-629
Post the work schedule 14 days out. Track deviations from the regular schedule at a 15% variance threshold.
$10 / $45 / $75 tiers by notice window, applied per shift change. Consent does not exempt — only six defined exceptions do.
Any shift pairing under 11 hours needs written employee consent timestamped ≥11h before, plus a flat $100 premium.
Before hiring outside staff, offer open hours to current employees per your written distribution criteria. Post ≥3 days. Record every response.
No firing without just cause or bona‑fide economic reason. Progressive discipline record, written notice, reinstatement rights on economic discharge.
Fairweek sits alongside the scheduling tool you already use. It doesn’t build shifts; it proves your shifts were legal.
Custom connectors for your existing scheduler and POS pull in whatever you already run — no rip‑and‑replace. Regular schedules and posted work schedules are stored as immutable, effective‑dated versions.
Re‑post a shift and the system computes the notice window, applies the correct premium tier, tags the exception if one applies, and adds the line to next payroll. Nothing is ever overwritten (§7-603(d)(4)).
When a GM contemplates a new hire, Fairweek fires the reinstatement tier (7‑day window) then the current‑employee tier via SMS and WhatsApp. Employees reply from their own numbers. Managers cannot proxy responses.
One click produces the 3‑year evidentiary bundle — CSVs, data dictionary, summary PDF — in the exact structure DCWP requests. Pass all eleven R5 audit routines before the subpoena arrives.
Consent and offer responses are recorded only from the employee’s own verified phone number. There is no code path where a manager can type “employee agreed.”
Regular schedules, work schedules, discipline, and discharge are immutable. Every “edit” creates a new version linked to the prior one, with a signed audit trail.
Bona‑fide‑economic discharges within 365 days are offered hours by strict seniority for a full 7‑day window before any current‑employee notice fires.
Only the six statutory exceptions waive a premium. Employee consent doesn’t. The premium engine encodes this — you can’t accidentally underpay by getting a text back.
DCWP’s enforcement pace increased through 2025. Named settlements are public record. The pattern is legible.
| Year | Operator | Settlement |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Chipotle Multi‑location settlement, NYC DCWP | $20,000,000 |
| 2022 | Domino's franchisee group Schedule‑change and premium violations | $3,000,000+ |
| 2024 | National QSR chain Access‑to‑hours & discharge findings | $1,600,000 |
| 2021 | Regional pizza operator Just‑cause discharge violations | $950,000 |
Illustrative — sourced from public DCWP settlement announcements.
We’ll run the eleven DCWP audit routines against your data live, and hand you the premium ledger you should have paid. No slides.
audit@fairweek.nyc