Short answer: As of November 2026, New York's minimum wage is $17.00 an hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester and $16.00 an hour in the rest of the state, and those rates stay the same on January 1, 2027. Overtime is owed after 40 hours a week, and New York adds rules the federal law does not have: mandatory meal periods, spread-of-hours and call-in pay, paid sick leave, 20 hours of paid prenatal leave and weekly pay for manual workers.
EZTime labor rule alerts flag overtime and missed rest periods before payroll.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Laws change; check your state labor department or an employment attorney before making decisions.
New York is one of the most detailed states in the country for wage and hour rules. Many requirements sit in the Labor Law itself, and others live in the Department of Labor's industry wage orders. The wage-order rules below come from the Minimum Wage Order for Miscellaneous Industries and Occupations (12 NYCRR Part 142), which covers most private employers outside hospitality, building service and farm work. Have staff in another state too? Compare with our Texas labor laws guide.
The minimum wage is based on where the employee performs the work, not where your office is. The New York State Department of Labor lists these general rates:
| Region | General minimum wage (2026) | Overtime rate at minimum wage |
|---|---|---|
| New York City (Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens and Richmond counties) | $17.00 per hour | $25.50 per hour |
| Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk) and Westchester | $17.00 per hour | $25.50 per hour |
| Remainder of New York State | $16.00 per hour | $24.00 per hour |
The Department of Labor states that the general minimum wage will not increase on January 1, 2027, because a statutory "off-ramp" condition was met, so the rates above continue into 2027. Home care aides have separate, higher rates. In hospitality, a limited tip credit applies; the cash wage for food service workers is $11.35 in New York City, Long Island and Westchester and $10.70 elsewhere, according to the DOL's tipped worker page. Employers in miscellaneous industries cannot take a tip credit at all.
If an employee works in two regions in the same week, the DOL's minimum wage FAQ says you can pay the higher rate for all hours or pay each hour at the rate for the region where it was worked. If you choose the second option, your time records must show the hours worked in each region.
Under 12 NYCRR 142-2.2, non-exempt employees must be paid one and one-half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek (44 hours for residential employees). There is no daily overtime rule for most employers. One New York twist: some employees who are exempt from overtime under federal law, other than the executive, administrative and professional exemptions, are still owed overtime in New York at one and one-half times the minimum wage. For the federal side of the rules, see our guide to FLSA overtime rules, and use the overtime calculator to check a specific week.
New York Labor Law Section 162 requires meal periods for most employees, adults included:
The DOL's wages and hours FAQ adds that meal periods are not work time and can be unpaid. Short breaks are not required, but if you allow a break of up to 20 minutes, it should be paid as work time.
Under 12 NYCRR 142-2.4, an employee must receive one extra hour of pay at the basic minimum hourly wage for any day when the spread of hours exceeds 10 hours, or when the employee works a split shift, or both. The spread of hours is the interval between the beginning and end of the workday. For example, a store employee who works 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and then 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. has worked 8 hours, but the spread is 13 hours, so one additional hour at the minimum wage is owed for that day.
Under 12 NYCRR 142-2.3, an employee who reports to work at the employer's request or with permission must be paid for at least four hours, or the number of hours in the regularly scheduled shift if that is less, at the basic minimum hourly wage. The hospitality and building service wage orders have their own versions of these rules.
New York State Paid Sick Leave applies to private employers of every size, with the amount based on headcount (ny.gov):
| Employer size | Sick leave per calendar year |
|---|---|
| 100 or more employees | Up to 56 hours, paid |
| 5 to 99 employees | Up to 40 hours, paid |
| 0 to 4 employees | Up to 40 hours; paid if net income is more than $1 million, otherwise unpaid |
Leave accrues at a rate of at least one hour for every 30 hours worked. New York City employers also have obligations under the city's own Earned Safe and Sick Time Act, enforced by the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
Since January 1, 2025, all private-sector employees in New York, including part-time and overtime-exempt employees, are entitled to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave per 52-week period, in addition to sick leave (Paid Prenatal Leave FAQs). Key points for employers:
New York Labor Law Section 191 requires manual workers to be paid weekly, and not later than seven calendar days after the end of the week in which the wages were earned. Only employers authorized by the Commissioner of Labor may pay manual workers less often, and never less than semi-monthly. Clerical and other workers must be paid at least semi-monthly on regular paydays set in advance. Final wages are due by the regular payday for the pay period in which employment ended. "Manual worker" is a broad category, so many retail, warehouse, restaurant and construction employers need a weekly payroll for at least part of their staff.
New York City adds predictable scheduling rules on top of state law. According to the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection:
For how these rules compare with other cities, read our guide to predictive scheduling laws.
Many New York problems come from missing data: an unrecorded meal break, an unnoticed spread of hours or an untimestamped schedule change. With EZTime, employees clock in and out from the mobile app, a tablet kiosk, NFC tags or SMS, and every timecard correction goes through manager approval with a history. Labor rule alerts flag approaching overtime and missed breaks, and the scheduling software keeps a record of when each schedule was published and changed, which helps with Fair Workweek notice rules. Payroll-ready exports in Excel or PDF work with any payroll software. Plans start at $2 per employee per month with a 14-day trial; see pricing.
The Department of Labor states the general minimum wage does not increase on January 1, 2027, so it remains $17.00 per hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester and $16.00 per hour in the rest of the state. Home care aides have separate rates.
Yes. Labor Law Section 162 requires a 30-minute noon meal period for shifts of more than six hours that extend over 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., plus additional meal periods for long or late shifts. Meal periods can be unpaid if the employee is relieved from duty.
One extra hour at the basic minimum wage for any day when the time between the start and end of the workday is more than 10 hours, or when the employee works a split shift.
Manual workers must be paid weekly, no later than seven days after the end of the workweek, unless the employer has DOL authorization to pay semi-monthly. Clerical and other workers must be paid at least semi-monthly.
Yes. Employees get 20 hours of paid prenatal leave per 52-week period in addition to their sick leave, and employers cannot require them to use other leave first.