Do I get paid if I’m sent home early in New York?
The short answer
The rule in New York
| One shift | At least 3 hours, or the hours in your regularly scheduled shift if that’s fewer. |
|---|---|
| Two or three shifts | Two shifts totaling 6 hours or less: at least 6 hours. Three shifts totaling 8 hours or less: at least 8 hours. Either way, or your regularly scheduled shift if that’s fewer. |
| Time you actually worked | Your regular or overtime rate, minus any customary and usual tip credit. |
| The rest of the call-in period | The basic minimum hourly rate with no tip credit: $17.00 in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester; $16.00 in the rest of the state (from January 1, 2026). |
| Spread of hours | If more than 10 hours pass between the start and end of your workday, counting meal breaks and time off between shifts, you get one extra hour at the basic minimum hourly rate. |
| Who it covers | All employees, whatever their rate of pay. Meal or lodging credits can’t offset call-in or spread-of-hours pay. |
“Payment for the balance of the period calculated at the basic minimum hourly rate with no tip credit subtracted.” (New York DOL: Hospitality Industry Wage Order (12 NYCRR Part 146))
What’s different in New York
The line that matters for servers is how call-in pay is split. The time you were actually on the floor is paid at your normal rate, and your employer can still take its tip credit on it. The hours you were sent home early from are paid at the full minimum wage, with no tip credit. In the labor department’s own example, a worker cut after one hour of an eight-hour shift gets the regular rate for that hour and the minimum wage for the two call-in hours.
The three-hour floor gives way to a shorter regular shift. The order defines a regularly scheduled shift as a fixed, repeating shift you work on the same day each week; if your hours on that day change week to week, you don’t have one. If you leave early on your own, the labor department says no call-in pay is due, as long as your employer didn’t influence you to leave.
The order’s pay rules list call-in pay and spread-of-hours pay, but no separate split-shift premium. A split shift is working hours that aren’t consecutive, not counting a meal break of an hour or less. What pays is the spread: a lunch shift from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. is 9½ hours worked but a 10½-hour spread, which earns an extra hour. Your employer may set its workday, say 5 a.m. to 5 a.m., if it’s regular and not set up to get around the law.
Official sources
Last verified
. Checked the agency pages linked above.
Still open: This page covers restaurants and hotels under the hospitality wage order (12 NYCRR Part 146). The labor department’s older FAQ lists the 3, 6, and 8 hour minimums without the regularly-scheduled-shift limit; the regulation text includes it.