Human Resource Blog

Notice of overtime

In New York state how many hours in advance does an employer have to give the employee notice before making the employee stay for overtime?

There is no federal or New York law that requires employers to give workers advance notice that they must work overtime — even by one minute. In New York and almost every other state, an employer can require that an employee work any amount of overtime — even 80 hours per week or more. The employer can make overtime mandatory and discipline or terminate the employee who refuses to work overtime. Of course, the employer must pay hourly and non-exempt workers a rate of 1.5 times their average wage for each hour, over 40, in the payroll period.

The best practice in most industries is to give employees as much advance notice as possible. This supports a healthy work/life balance. But, business necesseties sometimes make it impossible. An employer can tell a worker at the end of his or her scheduled shift that the employee must work overtime. The employer can even call the employee at home, after work, and require that the employee return to work and put in overtime.

Examples: Sarah is a hotel front desk clerk who works the 7 am to 3 pm shift. At 2:57 pm, the front desk clerk relieving Sarah calls in sick. At that point, the supervisor informs Sarah that she must work until 11 pm.

Joe drives a snow plow for the city of Chicago. He finishes his shift at 6 pm. Heavy snow continues, and the supervisor calls Joe back in to work at 10 pm, to work until 4 am. Joe can be terminated if he refuses to come back to work.