Restaurant scheduling: predictive scheduling laws and staying compliant
Does a predictive scheduling law apply to your restaurant? Coverage tests for Oregon and nine cities, predictability pay, and a schedule template.
By the TablePort teamFacts checked 13 min read
You post next week's schedule on Thursday night, and a new server asks whether that is even legal where you are. A friend who runs a chain talks about "predictability pay" as if every restaurant owes it.
Most likely, no law requires you to post schedules weeks ahead. There is no federal predictive scheduling law. Oregon and about ten cities and counties have one, and nearly all target large chains: 500 or more employees, or 30 to 40 or more locations. A one- or two-site independent is usually outside every one: even in New York City, three in four food and drink locations belong to a business with fewer than 20 employees. The exception to check is Berkeley, California: 100 employees worldwide and 10 in the city is enough. Last checked: 4 November 2026.
What is a predictive scheduling law?
A predictive scheduling law, often called a "fair workweek" law, controls how far ahead you post schedules and what you owe when you change them. Federal law has nothing like it: the FLSA sets minimum wage and overtime, but no notice period for schedules.
The local laws share the same building blocks:
- Advance notice: a written schedule posted 14 days ahead.
- Predictability pay: extra pay when you add, move, cut or cancel a shift after the schedule is posted.
- Rest between shifts: a premium for "clopening", a close followed by an open with too few hours between.
- Good-faith estimate: a written estimate of expected hours, given at hire.
- Access to hours: offer extra hours to current staff before hiring.
The details, and above all who is covered, differ by city.
Which predictive scheduling laws cover restaurants?
This is the coverage test in each jurisdiction, checked on 4 November 2026 against the city and state pages linked.
| Jurisdiction | Who is covered | Schedule notice |
|---|---|---|
| Oregon (statewide) | Retail, hospitality and food service employers with 500 or more employees worldwide | 14 days |
| Seattle | Retail and food service with 500 or more employees worldwide; full-service restaurants also need 40 or more full-service locations worldwide | 14 days |
| New York City | Fast food only: limited-service chains with 30 or more locations nationally, franchises of a 30+ brand included. Full-service restaurants are not covered | 14 days |
| Chicago | Restaurants with 250 or more employees and 30 or more locations worldwide; a franchisee must also own at least 4 Chicago locations. Only staff earning up to $33.85 an hour or $64,945.55 a year (from 1 July 2026) are covered | 14 days |
| Philadelphia | Retail, hospitality and food service with 250 or more employees and 30 or more locations worldwide, chains and franchises included | 14 days |
| San Francisco | Formula retail, which includes chain restaurants, with 40 or more establishments worldwide and 20 or more employees in the city | Two weeks |
| Berkeley | Restaurants with 100 or more employees worldwide and 10 or more in Berkeley; also a franchisee with 10 or more in Berkeley whose franchise network employs 100 or more | 14 days |
| Emeryville | Fast food employers with 56 or more employees worldwide and 20 or more in Emeryville | Two weeks |
| Evanston | Restaurants and food service with 30 or more locations and 200 or more employees worldwide; in force since 1 January 2024 | 14 days |
| Los Angeles city and county | Retail businesses with 300 or more employees worldwide. Restaurants are not covered | Not applicable |
A note on sources: Chicago's pages block automated reading, so its row rests on excerpts of the Office of Labor Standards' FAQ (September 2025) and 2026 notice, checked against law-firm summaries of the ordinance and of the rules that took effect on 1 June 2026. Those rules clarify how employer size is counted and how schedules are posted; we found no change to the restaurant coverage test. Philadelphia's row comes from the city code. Berkeley's FAQ, revised 23 August 2024, was read in full. Los Angeles uses the federal retail industry codes (NAICS 44 and 45), and restaurants fall under food service, not retail. The county's version, in force since 1 July 2025, covers retail in unincorporated areas only.
Read the table by your size, not your city. Seattle, Oregon, Chicago, Philadelphia, Evanston and San Francisco all need hundreds of employees or dozens of locations. New York City and Emeryville cover fast food, not table service. Berkeley is the one test a small independent group can meet. Its own FAQ gives the example of an operator with three restaurants, one in Berkeley with 20 staff and two in Oakland with 40 each: exactly 100 employees, so it is covered. A single franchise restaurant in Berkeley with 15 staff is covered too, if its franchise network employs more than 100 people.
How many restaurants do these laws actually reach?
Far fewer than the headlines suggest. Even in the cities with a law, most food and drink businesses are a long way below every threshold. This is our analysis of the Census Bureau's Statistics of US Businesses for 2022, released 29 May 2025, which sorts each location by the nationwide headcount of the business that owns it.
| Area (food services and drinking places, NAICS 722) | Locations | Owner has under 20 employees | Owner has 500+ employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon (statewide law) | 10,968 | 64% | 13% |
| New York City (five boroughs) | 24,122 | 76% | 9% |
| Cook County (Chicago, Evanston) | 12,106 | 62% | 18% |
| King County (Seattle) | 6,332 | 62% | 14% |
| Philadelphia | 3,848 | 73% | 10% |
| San Francisco | 3,900 | 70% | 9% |
| Alameda County (Berkeley, Emeryville) | 4,092 | 69% | 10% |
| United States | 700,469 | 58% | 18% |
Three things stand out:
- Oregon's 500-employee test leaves out almost every sit-down restaurant. Of Oregon's 4,273 full-service restaurants, 94% belong to a business with fewer than 500 employees nationwide, before franchise networks are counted.
- Big-city restaurants are smaller than average, not larger. Three in four New York City locations belong to a business with fewer than 20 employees, against 58% nationally.
- An independent with fewer than 20 employees is outside every law in the table above. Only a franchise can be pulled in at that size, through its network's headcount.
How to read it: franchise units are counted under the franchisee, while New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle and Berkeley also count the franchise network, so chain coverage is higher than the last column shows. Counties stand in for Chicago, Evanston, Seattle, Berkeley and Emeryville, and NAICS 722 also includes bars, caterers and food trucks. The laws are written for chains, and most restaurants are not chains.
Does a predictive scheduling law apply to my restaurant?
Work down this list. Stop at the first "no".
AM I COVERED BY A PREDICTIVE SCHEDULING LAW?
1. Do you have a location in Oregon, Seattle, New York City, Chicago,
Philadelphia, San Francisco, Berkeley, Emeryville or Evanston?
No -> No local predictive scheduling law applies today.
Yes -> go to 2.
2. Count every employee worldwide, across all your locations and
related companies (and your franchise network, if you are a
franchisee). Count part-time staff.
3. Compare with your city's test:
Berkeley: 100+ worldwide and 10+ in Berkeley -> covered
Emeryville: fast food, 56+ worldwide and 20+ in city -> covered
Evanston: 200+ employees and 30+ locations -> covered
Chicago: 250+ employees and 30+ locations -> covered
Philadelphia: 250+ employees and 30+ locations -> covered
San Francisco: 40+ establishments and 20+ in the city -> covered
Oregon: 500+ employees -> covered
Seattle: 500+ employees, plus 40+ locations if
full-service -> covered
New York City: fast food chain with 30+ locations -> covered
4. Not covered? Keep a two-week schedule anyway, and check your
state's reporting-time or call-in pay rules (see below).
If you are close to a threshold, for example at 90 employees with a Berkeley site, count again before every hiring season. Check with an adviser for your situation.
What does a covered restaurant owe?
Each law sets its own premiums. These are the rules from the city and state pages, for the jurisdictions where they could be confirmed.
| Jurisdiction | Change after the schedule is posted | Rest between shifts |
|---|---|---|
| Oregon | 1 hour's pay for adding more than 30 minutes, changing the time or adding a shift; half your regular rate for each scheduled hour not worked when you cut or cancel | 10 hours, or time and a half for hours worked inside |
| Seattle | 1 hour's pay for added hours or a changed time; half pay for unworked hours when sent home early or not called in for an on-call shift | 10 hours, or time and a half |
| New York City (fast food) | $10 to $15 per change that adds hours or moves a shift; $20, $45 or $75 per change that cuts hours, the later the notice the more | 11 hours, with written consent and a $100 premium |
| Philadelphia | 1 hour's pay for added time or a changed time; at least half your regular rate per scheduled hour not worked | 9 hours, with written consent and $40 per shift worked |
| Chicago | 1 hour's pay for changing the date or time of a shift, or for a cut with more than 24 hours' notice; half pay for each hour cut with under 24 hours' notice (Gould + Ratner, June 2022) | 10 hours, or 1.25 times pay if the worker agrees in writing |
| Berkeley | 1 hour's pay for a change with less than 14 days' notice; 4 hours or the hours cut, whichever is less, for a cut or cancellation with under 24 hours' notice | 11 hours, or time and a half |
Changes the employee asks for, and changes outside your control, are usually exempt. Do not confuse the two Oregon rates: a cut or canceled hour costs half the regular rate, while hours worked inside the 10-hour rest window cost time and a half.
The rest windows differ more than owners expect: 9 hours in Philadelphia, 10 in Oregon, Seattle and Chicago, 11 in Berkeley and New York City. Evanston's city page also describes extra pay for clopening shifts that start less than 11 hours after the last one ended.
Worked example: a Berkeley server's week
A server earns a regular rate of $20 an hour at a covered Berkeley restaurant. The schedule went out two weeks ahead. Then three things happen.
| Event | Rule | Extra pay |
|---|---|---|
| Friday shift moved with 18 hours' notice | Moved with under 24 hours' notice: 1 hour | $20 |
| Sunday 6-hour shift canceled with 12 hours' notice | 4 hours or the hours cut, whichever is less | $80 |
| Closes at 11:30 pm Monday, opens at 8 am Tuesday | Only 8.5 hours' rest, inside the 11-hour window | Time and a half for hours worked inside it |
That is $100 in predictability pay in one week, plus the rest premium, for one server. The Berkeley FAQ confirms that a rest premium and a short-notice premium can both apply to the same shift. Multiply by a floor team and the cost of a late schedule is plain.
At a covered New York City fast food chain, the DCWP FAQ prices the same kind of changes per change. Cutting a shift short costs $20 with under 14 days' notice, $45 under 7 days and $75 under 24 hours. Adding hours or moving a shift costs $10 or $15. A clopening costs $100 plus the worker's written consent, and a worker cannot waive a premium owed.
What still applies if you are not covered?
Being outside every fair workweek law does not mean scheduling is unregulated.
- Federal overtime. The FLSA requires time and a half after 40 hours in a workweek. For tipped staff, overtime is calculated on the full $7.25 minimum, not the cash wage, as our tip credit guide shows.
- State reporting-time and call-in pay. California's reporting-time pay and New York's call-in pay apply to restaurants of every size when you send someone home early or call them in for a short shift. Check your state labor department's current rules.
- Daily overtime. California also has daily overtime, so a long double shift can cost more than the weekly total suggests.
- Service charges in overtime. If staff receive a share of a service charge, it raises their overtime rate. See is a service charge a tip?
- Tips and hours. If you split a tip pool by hours, the schedule and clock-in records decide each share. See our tip pooling guide.
Posting two weeks ahead anyway costs nothing and means you are already compliant if you grow into a covered size.
Free staff scheduling template: two weeks ahead
Paste this into a spreadsheet. One block per week, posted 14 days before the first shift.
SCHEDULE: [Restaurant name] Week of: [Mon date] Posted: [date]
Role / Name Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Hours
Server / A Off 11-4 11-4 5-11 5-11 5-11 Off 28
Server / B 5-11 5-11 Off Off 11-4 5-11 11-4 28
Bartender / C 4-12 4-12 Off 4-12 4-12 Off Off 32
Host / D Off Off 5-10 5-10 5-11 5-11 11-4 27
Line cook / E 10-6 10-6 10-6 Off Off 3-11 3-11 40
Dish / F 5-11 Off 5-11 5-11 5-11 5-11 Off 30
Close-to-open gaps under your city's rest window (9, 10 or 11 hours)? [ ] checked
Anyone over 40 hours (or 8 in a day in California)? [ ] checked
Keep every posted version, and log each change after posting in a second sheet. If a law ever applies to you, this log is what an inspector asks for first. The FLSA already requires you to keep payroll records for three years, so keep the log at least that long.
SCHEDULE CHANGE LOG: [Restaurant name]
Logged Employee Shift as posted Change Notice Employee Written Premium owed
(date, (date, hours) (add, move, given asked? consent? (rule and $)
time) cut, cancel, (hours) (Y/N) (Y/N)
clopen)
12 Nov 4pm Server B 13 Nov, 5-11 pm Moved to 6-12 25 N N/A 1 hour, $20 (Berkeley)
__________ ________ ________________ _____________ ______ ________ _______ ______________
Rest gap check for clopens: last shift ended ____ , next starts ____ , gap ____ hours.
Premiums paid on payroll dated: __________ Checked by: __________
The "Employee asked?" column matters most: changes a worker requests in writing are usually exempt from predictability pay, and the log is how you prove it.
Can TablePort handle this for you?
TablePort's Staff Management add-on covers the planning side of this guide.
- Build the schedule from shift templates, two weeks ahead.
- Turn on the labor law presets for federal FLSA, California or New York, and get overtime warnings as you build.
- Use time tracking: staff clock in and out, so you can check hours worked against the schedule and see the wage forecast.
One honest limit: the presets do not cover city fair workweek ordinances, and TablePort does not calculate predictability pay or run payroll. If a city law covers you, check its premiums yourself. See the restaurant management page.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a federal predictive scheduling law?
No. The FLSA covers minimum wage and overtime but sets no notice period for schedules. Predictive scheduling rules come from Oregon and a handful of cities.
- How far in advance do restaurants have to post schedules?
Only covered employers under a local law must post ahead, usually 14 days. Most independent restaurants are not covered, so no law sets a deadline for them. Two weeks is still a sensible standard.
- Does New York City's fair workweek law cover full-service restaurants?
No. The NYC law covers fast food chains with 30 or more locations nationally, where guests order and pay before eating. Table-service restaurants are not covered by it, although New York State call-in pay rules still apply.
- Which predictive scheduling law can reach a small restaurant group?
Berkeley's. It covers restaurants with 100 or more employees worldwide and 10 or more in Berkeley, and franchisees whose network employs 100 or more. A group of three restaurants with 100 staff, one in Berkeley, is covered.
- What is clopening pay?
It is a premium for a close followed by an open with too little rest between. It is time and a half for the hours inside a 10-hour gap in Oregon and Seattle, and inside an 11-hour gap in Berkeley. Philadelphia pays $40 for a shift inside 9 hours, and New York City fast food employers need written consent and pay $100.