New York City DCA Issues Guidance on Temporary Schedule Change Amendments to Fair Workweek Law

• The FAQs remind employers that they must grant temporary changes to covered employees’ usual work schedules (including changes to the hours, times or locations) on two occasions each calendar year for “personal events.”
• Covered employees, in general, means employees who work at least 80 hours per calendar year in New York City and have been employed for at least 120 days.
• The requested temporary change may include, for example, working remotely, swapping shifts or adjusting shifts.
• The DCA notes that employers also have the option of granting unpaid leave in lieu of the temporary change requested by the employee.
• Employers must grant requests for up to:
  • Two separate occasions, each totaling one business day; or
  • One occasion for up to two business days.
• A business day is any 24-hour period during which an employee is required to work any amount of time.
• A “personal event” occurs when an employee needs to:
  • Care for a minor child for whom the employee provides direct and ongoing care.
  • Care for an individual (“care recipient”) with a disability for whom the employee provides direct and ongoing care to meet the needs of daily living and who is a family member or who resides in the caregiver’s household.
  • Attend a legal proceeding or hearing for public benefits for the employee, a family member, or the employee’s minor child or care recipient.
  • Use leave for any acceptable reason identified under New York City’s Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law.
• The FAQs provide that an employee is not required to submit documentation with their request or provide proof of the “personal event.”
• Furthermore, employers cannot require employees to make temporary schedule change requests within a specified time prior to the need for the change. Rather, employees must make their requests as soon as practicable and employers must respond within a specific timeframe.

Scenario:
Rose notifies her employer on July 20 that she will need to change her schedule on July 24. She needs to care for her 4-year-old daughter, Sophia, because Sophia’s childcare provider will be unavailable in the afternoon. Rose, who is scheduled to work on July 24 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., proposes working from 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. on that day instead. Is Rose’s employer required to allow Rose to change her hours as she proposed under the Temporary Schedule Change Law?

No. Although Rose’s employer must grant Rose temporary changes to her work schedule on up to two occasions each calendar year, her employer does not have to grant the specific type of temporary change proposed by Rose. Instead, her employer can tell Rose that she can take unpaid leave from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. to accommodate her personal event.