New York Labor Code: Wages, Leave, and Worker Protections

New York labor laws give workers in the state some of the strongest wage, leave, and anti-discrimination protections in the country, and most of them exceed the federal floor. The minimum wage in 2026 reaches $17.00 per hour in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, and $16.00 for the rest of the state.¹ Overtime kicks in past 40 hours a week, sick leave is required at every private employer, and the state’s Human Rights Law covers workers at businesses of any size. What you’re owed depends on where you work, what kind of work you do, and how many people your employer has on payroll.

Minimum Wage by Region and Industry

Two rates apply across the state as of January 1, 2026: $17.00 per hour downstate (New York City, Long Island, and Westchester) and $16.00 per hour everywhere else.¹ Both rates are indexed to inflation and rise annually. The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009, so New York’s rate is what governs.²

Tipped food service workers can be paid a lower cash wage as long as tips make up the difference. In 2026, that cash wage is $11.35 per hour downstate (with a $5.65 tip credit) and $10.70 per hour in the rest of the state (with a $5.30 tip credit). If tips don’t get you to the full minimum wage in a given pay period, your employer must top you off.³ Service employees who aren’t food service workers have a higher cash wage and a smaller tip credit.

Fast food workers are treated separately. Their 2026 minimum matches the standard rate ($17.00 downstate, $16.00 elsewhere), no tip credit is allowed, and any tips they receive are on top of the wage.⁴⁵

Independent contractors aren’t covered by minimum wage law, which is why misclassification is one of the more common ways employers try to shortchange workers. If you think you’ve been mislabeled as a contractor when you should be an employee, you can file a wage complaint with the New York State Department of Labor or sue in civil court.⁶

Overtime and Who Actually Qualifies as Exempt

Most workers earn overtime at 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for every hour past 40 in a workweek.⁷ Overtime is calculated weekly, not daily, so a long Tuesday alone doesn’t trigger it. A worker earning $17.00 gets at least $25.50 for each overtime hour.

Salary alone does not make you exempt. To be truly exempt as an executive, administrative, or professional employee under New York rules, you must both perform exempt duties and earn above the state salary threshold. For 2026 that threshold is $1,275.00 per week (about $66,300 a year) for workers in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, or Westchester, and $1,199.10 per week (about $62,353 annually) for the rest of the state.⁸ Below that, overtime is owed regardless of title.

Commissions and nondiscretionary bonuses have to be folded into the regular rate when computing overtime pay. Leaving them out understates what you’re owed.

When and How You Must Be Paid

Pay frequency depends on the kind of work. Manual workers must be paid weekly and no later than seven calendar days after the end of the workweek. Clerical and other non-manual workers must be paid at least twice a month on paydays set in advance. Commission salespeople must be paid at least monthly.⁹

If your job ends, whether you resign or are fired, your final wages are due by the next regular payday for that pay period. On request, your employer must mail the check.¹⁰

Meal Breaks and Spread of Hours

New York’s meal break rules are triggered by when you work, not just how long. If your shift runs more than six hours and covers any of the noonday period (11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.), you get at least a 30-minute meal break. Factory workers get 60 minutes.¹¹ Shifts that start before 11:00 a.m. and extend past 7:00 p.m. earn an additional 20-minute break between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Night shifts of more than six hours that begin between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. get a midshift meal break, 60 minutes for factory workers and 45 minutes for everyone else.

Employers can apply to the state to shorten meal periods, but they can’t do it unilaterally. If your work makes it impossible to be fully relieved during a break (common in healthcare and security), the time counts as paid work. Short paid rest breaks aren’t required by state law, but if your employer gives them, they must be paid.

A separate rule that catches many employers off guard is spread of hours. If your workday stretches more than 10 hours from beginning to end, whether from a long shift or a split shift with unpaid gaps, you’re owed an extra hour of pay at the minimum wage on top of your regular earnings. An 8-hour workday scheduled from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with a long unpaid gap still qualifies.

Paid Sick Leave

Every private employer in New York must provide sick leave. The amount and whether it’s paid depend on employer size:

1–4 employees with net income over $1 million: up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year.
1–4 employees with net income of $1 million or less: up to 40 hours of unpaid sick leave per year.
5–99 employees: up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year.
100 or more employees: up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per year.

You can use the leave for your own illness or medical care, or to care for a sick family member. Victims of domestic violence can also use it for court proceedings, relocation, or medical treatment.¹²

Paid Family Leave

New York’s Paid Family Leave program offers up to 12 weeks of job-protected, partially paid time off to bond with a new child, care for a family member with a serious health condition, or handle needs related to a family member’s military deployment.¹³ The benefit is 67% of your average weekly wage, capped at 67% of the statewide average weekly wage. In 2026, the maximum weekly benefit is $1,228.53.¹⁴

The program is funded entirely through employee payroll deductions. The 2026 contribution rate is 0.432% of gross wages, capped at $411.91 for the year.¹³ Benefits are taxable, but taxes aren’t withheld automatically. You can request voluntary withholding.

Discrimination, Pay Transparency, and Lactation

The New York State Human Rights Law prohibits employment discrimination based on race, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, marital status, gender identity, and other protected characteristics. Unlike federal anti-discrimination law, which generally applies to employers with 15 or more employees, the state Human Rights Law applies to every employer no matter how small. Pregnancy-related conditions must be reasonably accommodated so workers aren’t pushed into unpaid leave when a schedule or duty adjustment would let them keep working. Complaints can go to the New York State Division of Human Rights or to state court, and remedies can include back pay, reinstatement, and compensatory damages.

Since September 2023, employers with four or more employees must include a salary range in any job posting for work performed at least partly in New York or reporting to a New York location, along with the job description if one exists. Commission-based roles can satisfy the requirement by stating that compensation is commission-based.¹⁵ Retaliating against applicants or workers who ask about pay is prohibited, and violations carry civil penalties.¹⁶

Nursing employees are entitled to 30 minutes of paid break time each time they need to express breast milk, for up to three years after childbirth. If more than 30 minutes is needed, existing paid break or meal time may be used. Employers must provide a private space that is not a bathroom, shielded from view and free from intrusion, with a chair, a working surface, running water access, and an electrical outlet where the workplace has electricity. If the workplace has refrigeration, employees must be allowed to store expressed milk.¹⁷

Retaliation and Whistleblower Protections

Employers can’t punish you for asserting your rights. Section 215 of the Labor Law prohibits retaliation for exercising rights under the Labor Law, filing wage complaints, providing information to the NYSDOL, or testifying in an investigation. Retaliation isn’t limited to firing. It also covers cutting hours, changing shifts or locations for the worse, increasing scrutiny, and threats to report a worker to immigration authorities. These protections apply regardless of immigration status.¹⁸

Section 740 covers a broader whistleblower category, protecting workers who disclose or threaten to disclose activity they reasonably believe violates law or poses a substantial danger to public health or safety.¹⁹ Successful retaliation claims under either section can recover reinstatement, back pay, and additional damages.

Wage Notices, Pay Stubs, and Monitoring Notices

Under the Wage Theft Prevention Act, every new hire must be given a written notice at hiring that lists the rate of pay, overtime rate, pay basis (hourly, salary, commission, and so on), the regular payday, the employer’s legal name and address, and any allowances the employer claims as part of the minimum wage. The worker must sign and date the notice, get a copy, and receive a new notice whenever pay rates change.²⁰

Every pay stub must show gross wages, deductions, and net pay. Payroll records must be kept for at least six years.²¹ Missing wage statements can cost the employer up to $250 per day per worker, capped at $5,000 per worker in a civil lawsuit.²⁰

If your employer monitors email, internet use, or phone activity, they must tell you in writing at hiring and post the notice in a visible workplace location. You must acknowledge the notice in writing or electronically.²² The rule doesn’t ban monitoring; it requires disclosure. Penalties are up to $500 for a first offense, $1,000 for a second, and $3,000 for each subsequent violation. Automated processes for email volume management or system maintenance that don’t target individuals are exempt.

Penalties and How to File a Complaint

For unpaid wages, employers can be ordered to pay the full amount owed plus liquidated damages equal to 100% of the unpaid wages, effectively doubling the bill. Willful violations of equal pay provisions can push liquidated damages to 300% of wages due.²³ Employers with a prior violation history or willful violations face additional civil penalties of up to double the total wages owed. Non-wage violations such as meal break or day-of-rest infractions carry penalties starting at $1,000 for a first offense and rising to $3,000 for a third or later offense.²⁴

Deliberate wage theft can also be criminal. Stealing more than $1,000 in wages qualifies as grand larceny under the New York Penal Law, a felony carrying possible prison time and restitution.²⁵ Employers who fail to carry required workers’ compensation insurance face civil fines of $2,000 for every 10-day period of noncompliance and potential criminal charges that reach felony level for employers with more than five workers.²⁶

To pursue a claim, you can file a wage complaint with the New York State Department of Labor or bring a civil lawsuit. Discrimination claims go to the New York State Division of Human Rights or state court.⁶

Minors at Work

New York tightly restricts when and where minors can work. Children under 14 generally cannot be employed at all, with narrow exceptions.²⁷ During the school year, 14- and 15-year-olds can work up to 3 hours on school days, 8 hours on non-school days, capped at 18 hours per week, and only between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds can work up to 4 hours Monday through Thursday, 8 hours Friday through Sunday and holidays, capped at 28 hours per week, between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.

When school is not in session, 14- and 15-year-olds can work up to 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, with evening hours extending to 9:00 p.m. from June 21 through Labor Day. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds can work up to 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week, with work permitted until midnight. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds who want to work between 10:00 p.m. and midnight on a night before a school day need written parental permission and a certificate of satisfactory academic standing from their school.²⁸

Some work is entirely off-limits under 18, including jobs involving heavy machinery, construction, roofing, and exposure to toxic substances. In food service, workers under 16 can’t operate fryers or slicers, and no one under 18 can serve alcohol. Federal child labor penalties reach $16,035 per affected worker, or $72,876 when a violation causes death or serious injury to a minor.²⁹

1
The State of New York. New York State’s Minimum Wage
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Minimum Wage
3
Department of Labor. Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers
4
New York State Department of Labor. Fact Sheet – Fast Food Worker Minimum Wage (P716)
5
Department of Labor. Minimum Wage for Fast Food Workers Frequently Asked Questions
6
Department of Labor. The Labor Standards Complaint Process
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Overtime Pay
8
Department of Labor. Minimum Wage Frequently Asked Questions
9
New York State Senate. New York Labor Code LAB 191
10
Department of Labor. Wages and Hours Frequently Asked Questions
11
New York State Senate. New York Labor Code LAB 162
12
NY.Gov. New York State Paid Sick Leave – For Employers
13
New York State Paid Family Leave. New York State Paid Family Leave
14
Paid Family Leave. Benefits
15
New York State Senate. New York Labor Code LAB 194-B
16
Department of Labor. Pay Transparency
17
New York State Senate. New York Labor Code LAB 206-C
18
New York State Department of Labor. Employers Cannot Retaliate Against You For Complaining About Labor Law Violations (P706)
19
New York State Department of Labor. Notice of Employee Rights, Protections, and Obligations Under Labor Law Section 740
20
Department of Labor. P715 – Wage Theft Prevention Act
21
Department of Labor. Notice of Pay Rate
22
New York State Senate. New York Civil Rights Law CVR 52-C
23
New York State Senate. New York Labor Code LAB 198
24
New York State Senate. New York Labor Code LAB 218 – Violations of Certain Provisions
25
Department of Labor. Unpaid/Withheld Wages and Wage Supplements
26
New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. Violations of Workers’ Compensation Law
27
Department of Labor. Youth Ages 14-17
28
Department of Labor. Hours of Work for Minors
29
eCFR. Part 579 Child Labor Violations – Civil Money Penalties