Fair Workweek (sometimes called "predictive scheduling") is a law in some US cities that says employees deserve advance notice of their schedule. If you change a shift at the last minute, you may owe the employee extra money — called predictability pay.

Where it applies

Right now (2026), Fair Workweek laws are in effect in:

  • New York City — retail and fast food
  • Seattle, WA — retail and food service, 500+ employees globally
  • Oregon (statewide) — retail, hospitality, food service, 500+ employees
  • Chicago, IL — most industries, 100+ employees
  • Philadelphia, PA — retail, hospitality, food service, 250+ employees
  • Los Angeles, CA — retail, 300+ employees
  • Berkeley, Emeryville, San Francisco — local versions

The rules vary by city — what triggers a penalty in NYC isn't the same as Chicago. We pick up the right preset based on your location when you pick your industry during signup.

What triggers predictability pay

The common patterns across all cities:

  • Publishing less than 14 days in advance — the employee is owed extra for the surprise.
  • Changing a published shift — moving, shortening, lengthening, or cancelling.
  • Adding hours to a published schedule — "can you also work Friday?" counts.
  • Sending someone home early — pay for the rest of the shift they would have worked.
  • Clopening — closing one night and opening the next morning with less than the required rest in between (usually 10–11 hours).

How ShyftForce helps

On the Compliance page, we run your draft schedule through the Fair Workweek rules for your city before you publish. Any predictability-pay events get flagged with the rule, the cost, and the affected employee. You can resolve each one (pay the penalty, adjust the schedule, or override with a note) before you publish.

⚠️ The obligation is yours, not ours
We flag and calculate. We don't pay. The actual predictability pay has to go on the employee's paycheck — work with your payroll provider to add it as a line item, or use the Finch integration to push it through automatically.

Exemptions

The laws have specific exceptions — emergency operations, customer-requested changes, employee-requested swaps. The Compliance page lets you mark a flagged event as exempt with a reason; it stays in the audit log for if you're ever audited.