4-Hour Minimum Shift in New York: Call-In Pay and Exceptions

Under New York’s 4 hour minimum shift law, most private-sector employees who report to work for a scheduled shift must be paid for at least four hours, even if the employer sends them home after a few minutes. The rule comes from 12 NYCRR § 142-2.3 and is commonly called “call-in pay.”¹ If your regularly scheduled shift is shorter than four hours, you’re owed the length of that shift instead. The four-hour floor doesn’t stretch a two-hour shift into four.

What Triggers the Four-Hour Guarantee

The rule kicks in when you physically report to work at the employer’s request or with the employer’s permission. You don’t need to start any task or clock a single minute of productive work. Walking in the door ready to work is enough.

The flip side matters just as much. If the employer cancels the shift by text or phone before you leave home, call-in pay doesn’t apply. The regulation exists to protect workers who rearranged their day and traveled to the workplace only to be turned around.

Flexible and on-call scheduling doesn’t create a loophole. When there’s no clearly defined shift length, the four-hour default applies. The cost of scheduling uncertainty sits with the employer.

How Call-In Pay Is Actually Calculated

This is the part most workers get wrong. Call-in pay is not four hours at your regular rate. The regulation splits your pay into two buckets: hours you actually worked are paid at your regular hourly rate, and the remaining hours needed to reach the four-hour minimum are paid at the basic minimum wage rate.¹

As of January 1, 2026, the minimum wage is $17.00 per hour in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, and $16.00 per hour in the rest of the state.² So imagine you earn $25 per hour in Buffalo, report for a six-hour shift, and get sent home after one hour. You’d receive $25 for the hour you worked, plus three hours at $16.00, for a total of $73.

An employment contract or union collective bargaining agreement can require your full rate for all reporting time. If one exists, it controls. Without it, minimum wage fills the gap. Those gap hours are not treated as time worked, so they don’t count toward weekly overtime calculations.

Hospitality Workers Follow a Different Rule

Restaurant and hotel employees are covered by a separate wage order, 12 NYCRR § 146-1.5, with a three-hour minimum for a single shift rather than four.³ The minimum scales up when a hospitality worker is called in for multiple shifts in the same day:

One shift: at least three hours of pay, or the length of the scheduled shift if shorter.
Two shifts totaling six hours or less: at least six hours of pay.
Three shifts totaling eight hours or less: at least eight hours of pay.

The hospitality calculation is also more generous. Call-in pay is owed “at the applicable wage rate,” meaning your actual hourly rate rather than minimum wage for the gap hours.³ A server paid $15 per hour who is sent home after one hour of a single shift receives three full hours at $15, not one hour at $15 and two at minimum wage.

Who Isn’t Covered

The four-hour rule under the miscellaneous industries wage order doesn’t reach every worker. Three groups sit outside it:¹

Government employees. Federal, state, and municipal workers, along with employees of political subdivisions, are excluded from the wage order’s definition of “employee.”
Certain nonprofit employees. Nonprofits that have elected an exemption under Section 652(3) of the Minimum Wage Act can opt out. Not every nonprofit does, so coverage depends on the specific employer.
Salaried exempt employees. Workers in bona fide executive, administrative, or professional roles who meet the salary and duties tests are exempt, the same as they are from overtime.

Hourly, non-exempt workers at private companies are almost always covered.

Split Shifts, Long Days, and Extra Pay You Might Miss

Separate from call-in pay, New York requires an extra hour of pay at the basic minimum wage rate when your workday is a split shift, or when the spread of hours between the start and end of your workday exceeds ten hours.⁴ A split shift is a workday where you clock out for a middle-of-the-day break at home and return for another work period. The extra hour applies whether the long spread or the split shift happens alone, and it doesn’t double up when both occur on the same day.

Fast food workers in New York City have additional protections under the city’s Fair Workweek Law. Fast food employers must post schedules at least 14 days in advance and pay schedule change premiums for late alterations. The law also blocks firing or cutting a worker’s hours by more than 15% without just cause, and requires employers to offer extra hours to existing staff before hiring new employees.⁵ These sit on top of the state call-in pay right, not in place of it.

How to Claim Unpaid Call-In Pay

If your employer shorted your call-in pay, file a Labor Standards Complaint Form (LS 223) with the New York State Department of Labor.⁶ You can submit it online or by mail. Include the employer’s name and address, the specific dates you reported to work and were sent home early, the hours and wages you actually received, and what you believe you should have been paid.

An investigator reviews the evidence from both sides. If the state finds a violation, it can order the employer to pay the underpayment. An employer that doesn’t comply faces liquidated damages of up to 100% of the unpaid wages, effectively doubling what you’re owed, plus prejudgment interest.⁷

You have six years from the date of the violation to file, one of the most generous statutes of limitations for wage claims in the country.⁷ Waiting makes proof harder. Save pay stubs, text messages about schedule changes, and your own dated notes as they happen.

You Cannot Be Punished for Complaining

New York law prohibits employers from firing, threatening, penalizing, or otherwise retaliating against workers who file wage complaints or cooperate with an investigation.⁸ Your complaint doesn’t need to cite a specific section of the labor law. A good-faith belief that the employer violated the law is enough for the protection to apply.

Retaliation reaches beyond termination. Cutting hours, demoting you, assigning undesirable shifts, or threatening to report immigration status all count as illegal retaliation under the statute. Employers who retaliate face separate penalties on top of whatever they owe for the original wage violation. If any adverse action follows a call-in pay complaint, document it and add it to your filing with the Department of Labor.

1
New York State Department of Labor. 12 NYCRR 142 – Miscellaneous Industries and Occupations
2
New York State Department of Labor. Minimum Wage
3
Cornell Law Institute. New York Code 12 NYCRR 146-1.5 – Call-In Pay
4
Cornell Law Institute. New York Code 12 NYCRR 142-2.4
5
NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Fast Food Worker Rights
6
New York State Department of Labor. The Labor Standards Complaint Process
7
New York State Senate. New York Labor Law Section 198 – Costs, Remedies
8
New York State Senate. New York Labor Law Section 215