Overtime in New York
Daily overtime
New York has no daily overtime threshold. A fourteen-hour Tuesday inside a thirty-eight hour week produces no overtime at all. Only California, Alaska, Nevada and Colorado count overtime by the day.
Weekly overtime
Hours over forty in a workweek are paid at one and a half times the regular rate. New York has one genuine variance from the federal threshold: a residential employee — someone who lives on the employer’s premises — reaches overtime at forty-four hours rather than forty.
The seventh consecutive day
There is no seventh-day pay premium in New York — that rule exists only in California. New York does require at least twenty-four consecutive hours of rest in each calendar week for employees in a long list of covered occupations, including factories, mercantile establishments, hotels, restaurants, building service work, domestic work and farm labour. That is a rest requirement, not a pay rate.
How often you must be paid
New York sets pay frequency by the kind of work rather than by the employer. A manual worker — the statute says a mechanic, workingman or labourer — must be paid weekly and not later than seven calendar days after the end of the week in which the wages were earned; large employers can apply to the Department of Labor for authorisation to pay biweekly. A clerical or other worker must be paid at least semi-monthly, on regular paydays designated in advance. Commission salespeople must be paid at least once a month. The clerical category excludes bona fide executive, administrative and professional employees earning more than $1,300 a week, who fall outside the statute entirely.
When your last paycheck is due
This is the question people search for most, and in several states the answer depends on whether you left or were let go. In New York:
- If you were fired or laid off: By the regular payday for the pay period in which you were let go.
- If you quit: By the regular payday for the pay period in which you left.
New York does not distinguish between being fired and quitting. The statute is a single sentence: if employment is terminated, the employer must pay the wages not later than the regular payday for the pay period during which the termination occurred. If you ask for it in writing, the employer must post the payment to you.
Meal and rest breaks
New York’s meal periods are built around the noon-day meal. An employee in or in connection with a factory is entitled to at least sixty minutes for the noon-day meal; everyone else covered by the statute gets at least thirty minutes. A shift that starts before 11am and continues past 7pm carries an additional meal period of at least twenty minutes, taken between 5pm and 7pm. A shift of more than six hours that starts between 1pm and 6am carries a meal period at the midpoint — sixty minutes in a factory, forty-five minutes elsewhere. The Commissioner of Labor can permit a shorter period by written permit, which must be posted at the entrance to the workplace.
New York does not require paid rest breaks. If your employer gives short breaks anyway, federal rules treat breaks under twenty minutes as paid working time.
The New York minimum wage
From 1 January 2026 the minimum is $17.00 an hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester, and $16.00 an hour in the rest of the state. From 2027 the rate is tied to inflation and rises with a three-year average of the Consumer Price Index for the Northeast. Tipped service and food-service workers have separate cash-wage and tip-credit rates.
Figure checked 26 July 2026, effective 1 January 2026. Minimum wages move on a schedule and local ordinances move on their own — if you are reading this well after that date, check the agency link below before relying on the number.
If you have not been paid
Complaints are made on form LS 223, the Labor Standards Complaint Form, which covers unpaid wages, unlawful deductions, unpaid minimum wage or overtime, missed meal periods and unpaid sick leave. Anyone who works in New York State may file, and the form is published in several languages.
Deadline: Six years is the general limitations period for unpaid wages under the Labor Law.
NYS Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards
What this page does not cover
- Whether the rules apply to you at all. Overtime and break rules apply to non-exempt employees. If you are genuinely exempt, or an independent contractor, most of this page is not about you — and misclassification is common enough that being called exempt is not the same as being exempt.
- Local ordinances. Cities and counties set their own minimum wages, paid sick leave and, in some places, scheduling rules. Only the state-level position is described here.
- Industry-specific rules. Agriculture, transport, health care, public employment and several other sectors carry their own wage orders and exemptions that override the general position.
- Your contract or union agreement, which can promise more than the law requires — never less.
- This is not legal advice. It is a cited summary of published law, written to be checked. The agency above answers questions for free.
Common questions
Does New York have daily overtime?
No. New York counts overtime weekly, over forty hours in a workweek. A single long day is not overtime by itself. Only California, Alaska, Nevada and Colorado have a daily threshold.
When is my final paycheck due in New York?
By the regular payday for the pay period in which your employment ended, whether you quit or were fired. New York draws no distinction between the two, unlike California and Texas.
Does my employer have to give me a lunch break in New York?
Yes, if your shift is covered. Factory work carries a sixty-minute noon-day meal period and other covered work carries thirty minutes, with extra periods for shifts that run past 7pm or start in the afternoon or overnight. New York does not require paid rest breaks on top of that.
I am paid every two weeks and I do manual work. Is that legal in New York?
The statute says manual workers must be paid weekly unless the employer has authorisation from the Department of Labor to pay biweekly. Whether an employee can sue over biweekly pay when the wages were eventually paid in full is currently disputed between two of New York’s appellate departments, and a 2025 amendment limits damages for a first violation to lost interest.
What is the minimum wage in New York in 2026?
From 1 January 2026 it is $17.00 an hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester, and $16.00 an hour in the rest of the state. From 2027 it rises with inflation.