Predictability pay attaches to named employer moves inside the notice window: adding time or a shift, moving a shift without changing its length, cutting hours or canceling a shift, and leaving an on-call shift uncalled. A separate rule prices too little rest between two shifts. For a change that costs the employee no hours, the figure is one extra hour of pay almost everywhere. For a cut, two different formulas are in use and they do not produce the same bill. Eight of the eleven US jurisdictions publish the amounts. New York City, Los Angeles City and unincorporated Los Angeles County do not, and we say so rather than estimate.
This article is for general information and is not legal advice. Coverage thresholds, rates and exceptions vary by jurisdiction and change over time. Confirm obligations in each location with qualified counsel.
Most summaries of fair workweek law answer the coverage question: which cities, which industries, what headcount. That is the wrong half for the person actually building next week's schedule. The operational question is narrower and harder. You are about to move one shift, trim another and call someone in early. Which of those three moves costs money, and how much?
Oregon answers it most cleanly, because it prices the moves separately. Add more than 30 minutes to a shift, change its date or its start or end time without costing the employee hours, or add a work or on-call shift, and the employer owes one hour of pay at the regular rate. Take hours away, and the employer owes half the regular rate for every scheduled hour the employee does not work[1][2]. Two moves, two different prices, and the second one is the one operators forget to count.
Every other jurisdiction in this post uses some version of that split. What changes is the multiplier, the notice window and the exceptions. This post is organized by trigger rather than by city, because that is the order a scheduler meets them in. For the coverage map, which employers are in scope and which are comfortably out of it, see our companion guide to predictive scheduling laws by jurisdiction.
What counts as an employer-initiated change?
Not every change to a posted schedule is a trigger. Three things have to be true at once: the change is made by the employer rather than requested by the employee, it lands inside the advance notice window, and it takes one of the shapes the statute names.
The named shapes are consistent enough across ordinances to group into four, and the grouping below is ours rather than any statute's own taxonomy:
- Time added. Extra minutes on an existing shift, an extra shift, or an added on-call shift. Oregon sets a floor of more than 30 minutes before the premium attaches[2]. Seattle owes the premium on an addition of any amount, and allows additions of less than an hour to be pro-rated[3].
- The shift moved but did not shrink. A different date, a different start or end time, and in Philadelphia a different location, with no loss of hours[8].
- Hours removed. Hours subtracted from a shift, a shift canceled outright, or an employee sent home early.
- An on-call shift that never happened. The employee held the time and was not called in.
Seattle adds a netting rule that the others leave implicit: where a single change both adds and removes time, a net addition owes one hour and a net subtraction owes half the hours not worked[3].
How much notice do you actually have before a change costs money?
The window and the posting requirement are two different obligations, and San Francisco is the reason that distinction matters. Its ordinance requires the schedule two weeks ahead, but predictability pay does not begin until notice drops below seven days[11]. Any summary that says all of these laws require 14 days is wrong about San Francisco, and wrong in the direction that costs an employer money it did not need to spend.
| Jurisdiction | Schedule posted in advance | When the pay clock starts |
|---|---|---|
| Oregon | 14 calendar days | Change inside 14 days[1][2] |
| Seattle | 14 days | Change made less than 14 days before the shift starts[3][4] |
| San Francisco | 2 weeks | Less than 7 days[11][12] |
| Chicago | 14 calendar days | Change inside 14 days[5][6] |
| Philadelphia | 14 days since Jan 1, 2021 (10 days before that) | Change inside the notice period[8][9] |
| Berkeley | 14 days | Change inside 14 days[13] |
| Emeryville | Biweekly schedule issued at least every 14 days | Change inside 14 days[15] |
| Evanston | 14 days before the first scheduled shift | Change inside 14 days[16][17] |
| New York City | 14 days fast food, 72 hours retail | Change inside the notice period[18][19] |
| Los Angeles City | 14 days | Change inside 14 days[20][21] |
| Los Angeles County (unincorporated) | 14 days | Change inside 14 days[22][23] |
Two of those windows have moved, and a table without dates on them misleads anyone looking backward at an old pay period. Oregon's notice period was seven days until July 1, 2020, when the amendment striking "seven" and inserting "14" became operative[2]. Philadelphia's was 10 days through December 31, 2020 and 14 days from January 1, 2021[8].
Philadelphia also contradicts itself on when the obligation started, and it is worth knowing which document to trust. The enacted ordinance text puts the 10-day period from January 1, 2020. The city's regulations and its FAQ both say compliance is required as of April 1, 2020[9][10]. We follow the regulations, and note that a competitor table showing January 2020 is reading the bill rather than the rules.
What does a short-notice change that costs no hours cost?
This is the one figure that is nearly uniform: one extra hour of pay. It applies whether the employer added time, moved the shift to a different day, or shifted its start time, as long as the employee does not lose hours.
| Jurisdiction | Employer adds time, or moves the shift with no hours lost |
|---|---|
| Oregon | 1 hour at the regular rate, for an addition of more than 30 minutes or a change of date, start or end time with no hours lost[1][2] |
| Seattle | 1 hour at the scheduled rate; additions of less than an hour may be pro-rated[3] |
| Chicago | 1 hour[6] |
| Philadelphia | 1 hour at the regular rate, including a change of location[8] |
| San Francisco | 1 hour where notice is 24 hours or more but less than 7 days. Under 24 hours: 2 hours for a shift of 4 hours or less, 4 hours for a longer shift[11] |
| Berkeley | 1 hour with 24 hours' notice or more, whatever kind of change it is; 1 hour for an added or moved shift inside 24 hours[13] |
| Emeryville | 1 hour with 24 hours' notice or more; 1 hour for changes other than a cut inside 24 hours[15] |
| Evanston | 1 hour with 24 hours' notice or more; 1 hour for changes other than a cut inside 24 hours[16] |
| New York City | Not published |
| Los Angeles City | Not published |
| Los Angeles County (unincorporated) | Not published |
Two details in that table change the arithmetic more than they look like they should. Seattle prices its premium off the scheduled rate rather than the regular rate, the only jurisdiction here that does, which matters wherever shift differentials or tips are in play[3]. And San Francisco is the only one that scales the premium by the length of the shift, so a cell reading "one to four hours" hides the rule instead of stating it[11].
What does cutting hours or canceling a shift cost?
Here the jurisdictions split into two families, and the same cut produces different bills depending on which family the store sits in.
| Jurisdiction | Hours removed, or shift canceled, inside the window |
|---|---|
| Oregon | 0.5× the regular rate for each scheduled hour not worked[1][2] |
| Seattle | Half of the hours not worked, at the scheduled rate[3] |
| Philadelphia | No less than 0.5× the regular rate per scheduled hour not worked, for a regular or an on-call shift[8] |
| Chicago | More than 24 hours' notice: 1 hour. Less than 24 hours' notice: no less than 50% of the pay for those hours, or for the whole shift if the whole shift goes[6] |
| San Francisco | 24 hours to 7 days: 1 hour. Under 24 hours: 2 hours for a shift of 4 hours or less, 4 hours for a longer shift[11] |
| Berkeley | Under 24 hours: 4 hours, or the number of hours reduced, whichever is less. 24 hours or more: 1 hour[13] |
| Emeryville | Under 24 hours: 4 hours, or the number of hours in the scheduled shift, whichever is less. 24 hours or more: 1 hour[15] |
| Evanston | Under 24 hours: 4 hours, or the number of hours in the scheduled shift, whichever is less. 24 hours or more: 1 hour[16] |
| New York City | Not published |
| Los Angeles City | Not published |
| Los Angeles County (unincorporated) | Not published |
Run the two formulas against the same decision and the difference is plain. Send someone home six hours early on a same-day call, and Oregon's rule owes half of six, so three hours of pay[2]. Berkeley's rule owes four hours or six, whichever is fewer, so four hours of pay[13]. Cut one hour instead of six and Oregon owes half an hour while Berkeley owes the full hour. The multipliers are the cities'; the comparison is ours. The pattern it shows is that the capped-block family costs more per cut than the fractional family until the cut passes four hours, and then stops growing.
Berkeley also prices to the minute rather than rounding to the shift, with a 10-minute grace period either side and its own worked example: send someone home 15 minutes early and 15 minutes of predictability pay is owed[13]. Philadelphia's grace period is 20 minutes either side of the scheduled start or end[8].
When does an on-call shift cost money even though nobody worked it?
This is the trigger that catches operators who believe they changed nothing. Holding someone available and then not using them is a priced event in most of these ordinances.
- Oregon. Adding an on-call shift is itself an addition and owes one hour. Hours lost from an on-call shift fall under the 0.5× rule[1][2].
- Seattle. Where the employee is not called in, half of the on-call hours not worked, at the scheduled rate[3].
- San Francisco. An unused on-call shift owes 2 hours for a shift of four hours or less, and 4 hours for a longer one[11].
- Philadelphia. A canceled or shortened on-call shift is treated the same as a regular one, at no less than half the regular rate per hour not worked. The posted schedule has to show on-call status for every employee at the worksite, scheduled that week or not[8].
- Chicago. Since June 1, 2026 the rules define an on-call shift as one where the employee has to make contact, or wait to be contacted, less than 24 hours before it starts, and require on-call shifts to appear in the advance work schedule as part of it[7].
What does too little rest between shifts cost, and does consent help?
The rest premium is a separate obligation from predictability pay, with its own window and its own multiplier. It is also the rule most often assumed to be waivable, and it usually is not.
| Jurisdiction | Rest window | Premium for hours worked inside it |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | 9 hours | Flat $40 per shift[8] |
| Oregon | 10 hours | Time and a half[1][2] |
| Seattle | 10 hours | Time and a half, owed regardless of request or consent, and computed on top of a holiday or overtime rate[3] |
| Chicago | 10 hours | 1.25× the base rate for the entire affected shift, owed even where the employee asked for it[6][7] |
| Berkeley | 11 hours | Time and a half for each hour inside the window[13][14] |
| Emeryville | 11 hours | Time and a half, where the employee agrees in writing to work it[15] |
| Evanston | 11 hours | 1.5× the regular rate[16] |
| Los Angeles City | 10 hours | Not published |
| Los Angeles County (unincorporated) | 10 hours | Not published. The County prices this differently from the City[22][23] |
| New York City | Not published | Not published. DCWP states that clopening premiums are owed in fast food[18][19] |
| San Francisco | Not found in the ordinance we read | Not found in the ordinance we read[11] |
Philadelphia is the outlier twice over: the shortest window at nine hours, and the only flat-dollar premium in the group. Forty dollars does not scale with the worker's wage, which makes it the cheapest rest premium here for a well-paid employee and, on a short overlap, dearer than a multiplier would be for a low-paid one[8].
Chicago's version is the most expensive to get wrong, because the 1.25× rate applies to the whole shift rather than only the hours inside the 10-hour window, and the June 2026 rules state plainly that it is owed even where the employee requested or consented, that consent may be revoked at any time, and that a double shift beginning inside the window is paid at that rate for its full length[7]. Seattle's Office of Labor Standards is equally direct that its premium is owed regardless of consent, and shows the compounding with its own worked example: a $20 rate becomes $30 on a holiday, and the rest premium then applies to that, producing $45[3].
Emeryville is the exception that proves the shape. There, written agreement is what makes the shift schedulable at all, and the premium is owed on top[15]. Consent is a precondition, not a discount.
What is excepted?
The exceptions are where most real exposure lives, because they are the ones an operator assumes apply without checking the paperwork.
The employee asked for it. Employee-initiated changes are outside predictability pay, but the documentation standard is tightening. Chicago's rules as amended June 1, 2026 exempt employee-initiated additions and subtractions, use of paid leave, and mutually agreed shift trades only where the request is in writing[7]. A verbal swap between two workers, arranged in the break room and honored by the manager, is the single likeliest source of a new Chicago liability this year.
The change was quick, or it followed the posting. Philadelphia excepts changes made within 24 hours after the schedule was posted, along with a 20-minute grace period at either end of a shift and hours subtracted for a documented multi-day disciplinary suspension[8].
Something outside the employer's control happened. Philadelphia's list is unusually specific: a ticketed event canceled or rescheduled, a ticketed event whose attendance rises by 20% or more for reasons outside the employer's control, and a hotel banquet event booked outside the employer's control[8]. Evanston takes the more common route, excepting a collective bargaining waiver, acts of nature, utility failure, civil unrest and employee-initiated changes, and adding that predictability pay and hazard pay are mutually exclusive[16].
The employee accepted offered hours. Chicago's access-to-hours process, widened in 2026 to reach temporary and seasonal employees who worked two or more weeks in the previous twelve months, carries no predictability pay for shifts accepted through it, provided the offer is in writing with the five elements the rule specifies[7].
Chicago's 2026 amendment also settled the mechanics of paying the premium, which is worth reading if payroll handles it as an adjustment. Predictability pay excludes overtime, holiday and premium pay from the regular rate but includes a shift differential; it is not another hour of work and accrues no leave; it is due by the next payday; and it has to appear as its own line on the wage statement[7].
Where the numbers are not published, and who to ask
Three of the eleven jurisdictions do not give an operator a number to work with, and no amount of cross-referencing produces one honestly. We would rather print the gap than an average.
- New York City. DCWP publishes the notice periods, 14 days for fast food and 72 hours for retail, the right to decline shifts not on the schedule, the hours-offer requirement, and the rule against firing or cutting hours by more than 15% without just cause. It states that premiums are owed for schedule changes and clopenings. We could not find the amounts on the Fair Workweek page or in the fast food FAQ. DCWP is the authority, reachable through its own complaint channel or 311[18][19].
- Los Angeles City. The 14-day schedule and the 10-hour rest rule are published; the premium amounts are not. The Office of Wage Standards is the authority[20][21].
- Unincorporated Los Angeles County. Same gap, and one extra reason not to borrow the City's figures even if we had them: the County's own materials indicate it prices the short-rest premium differently from the City. The Department of Consumer and Business Affairs is the authority[22][23]. Which of the two applies is decided by geography rather than by employer size, which we cover in LA County versus LA City for retail.
Two more limits belong on the record. First, we did not read Chicago's ordinance text at MCC 6-110 directly, because the city's code host blocks automated access. The Chicago figures above come from the city's own FAQ[6]. That matters because the June 2026 rules deleted the rules' restatement of the cancellation premiums while the FAQ continues to state them; the reading that the amounts live on in the ordinance itself is ours, not the City's. Anyone about to rely on a Chicago number should read MCC 6-110 first. Our Chicago guide for manufacturing and warehouse employers goes further into how that ordinance treats those two industries.
Second, Chicago publishes two different coverage thresholds today. The live city page puts a covered employee at or below $33.85 an hour or $64,945.55 a year; the city's FAQ PDF still shows $31.85 and $61,149.35, a prior year's figures[5][6]. We follow the live page. The figures re-index annually and the city's notice rules key off July 1, so check them before you rely on them.
Philadelphia has a moving number of its own that we deliberately do not quote. Where a tipped employee is paid under $7.25 an hour, the regulations set the predictability-pay rate from a published annual average of three Philadelphia food-service occupational wages, republished every June 15 and effective from July 1[9]. Any figure we printed for it would be stale within the year.
One sourcing note in the same spirit: Emeryville's own labor standards page refused automated access, so the Emeryville rules above were read from the ordinance text in the city's legislative record rather than from the city's summary of it[15]. The copy in that record carries a blank ordinance number where the clerk's final number should be, so we cite the code chapter instead of an ordinance number.
Why this is arithmetic rather than a warning light
Look at what the two cut formulas above actually demand of a system. A tool that knows a change landed inside the window can tell a scheduler that something is owed. It cannot tell them whether the number is half the hours the worker lost, or four hours, or the hours lost when that is fewer, or a flat forty dollars, unless the formula itself is part of the rule someone wrote down.
That is the reason WorkAxle's rule engine holds the arithmetic rather than a flag. Each location's rules get written once in a no-code builder: the advance-notice window, the premium formula, the rest window and its multiplier, with an effective date attached. From there the engine evaluates every schedule, shift and change against those rules while the schedule is being built, so a move that would owe predictability pay, or a shift starting inside the rest window, surfaces before the scheduler commits it. Whether that surfaces as a warning a supervisor can override with the override logged, or a hard stop, is a setting rather than a product decision we made for you. A worker's location selects its own rule pack, so a store inside the city limits and one in the unincorporated county are not the same configuration by accident. And when a threshold re-indexes on July 1, you date the change once and every site picks it up on that day, with no release cycle in between.
What software cannot do is invent a figure a city has not published. Where the number is missing, the honest workflow is a rule that flags the change, names the authority, and leaves a human to make the call. That is the same conclusion this post reaches, and it is why the gaps above are printed rather than filled.