FLSA in New York: Minimum Wage, Overtime, and Wage Claims

The Fair Labor Standards Act sets the federal floor for wages, overtime, and recordkeeping, but in New York it is rarely the law that matters most. New York’s Labor Law runs parallel to the FLSA and consistently sets higher standards, and where the two conflict, employers must follow whichever rule pays the worker more. For almost every issue a New York employee runs into, that means state law controls.

Which Law Actually Covers You

The FLSA reaches workers two ways. Enterprise coverage applies when a business has at least two employees and $500,000 or more in annual gross sales.¹ Individual coverage picks up workers whose jobs touch interstate commerce, even in small ways like handling out-of-state calls or goods.²

New York Labor Law is broader. It covers virtually every employee working in the state, no revenue threshold required. So a worker at a small shop that falls below the FLSA’s $500,000 line is still protected by New York’s minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping rules. When both laws apply, federal law expressly requires the more employee-favorable standard to control.³ In practice, that means New York rules govern.

Minimum Wage in New York vs. Federal

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009.⁴ No employer in New York can lawfully pay that rate. As of January 1, 2026, the state minimum is:⁵

$17.00 per hour in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester
$16.00 per hour in the rest of the state

Tip Credits

Employers of tipped workers can pay a lower cash wage as long as tips bring the worker up to the full minimum. If they don’t, the employer must make up the difference. The 2026 breakdown:⁶

Food service workers in NYC, Long Island, and Westchester: $11.35 cash wage, $5.65 tip credit
Food service workers elsewhere: $10.70 cash wage, $5.30 tip credit
Other service employees in NYC, Long Island, and Westchester: $14.15 cash wage, $2.85 tip credit
Other service employees elsewhere: $13.30 cash wage, $2.70 tip credit

Food service workers are those in restaurants and similar establishments; service employees are other tipped roles like hotel staff. The categories carry different tip credits because tip levels differ.

Overtime Pay

Both federal and New York law require overtime at one and one-half times the regular rate for every hour over 40 in a workweek.⁷ A workweek is any fixed, recurring seven-day period the employer picks; it doesn’t need to match a calendar week.

The regular rate is not just your hourly wage. Non-discretionary bonuses, commissions, and shift differentials all fold in before the 1.5 multiplier applies. A worker earning $20 an hour who also gets a $200 production bonus during a 50-hour week doesn’t simply receive $30 per overtime hour. The bonus spreads across all hours worked, raising the base rate before overtime is calculated.⁸ Skipping that step is one of the most common ways employers underpay overtime.

Travel and Training Time

Normal commuting from home to a job site is not paid time. But travel between work locations during the day is. If your employer tells you to pick up supplies at one site before heading to another, the drive between them counts.

Training time is compensable unless all four of these are true: it happens outside regular work hours, attendance is voluntary, the content is unrelated to your job, and you do no productive work during the session. Fail any one and the hours count toward your weekly total, potentially triggering overtime.

Exempt Employees and the New York Salary Gap

Certain white-collar employees are exempt from overtime if they satisfy both a duties test and a salary test. The salary test is where New York breaks sharply from federal law, and where employers most often get caught.

The Duties Tests

Executive: primary duty is managing the business or a recognized department, and the employee regularly directs at least two full-time workers.⁹
Administrative: primary duty is office or non-manual work directly related to business operations, requiring independent judgment on significant matters.
Professional: work requiring advanced knowledge in a specialized field obtained through prolonged study.

Salary Thresholds

The federal threshold for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions is $684 per week, or $35,568 per year, after a 2024 attempt to raise it was vacated by a federal court.¹⁰ The federal highly compensated employee threshold is $107,432 per year.¹¹

New York’s numbers are much higher. For 2026, the minimum weekly salary to qualify as an exempt executive or administrative employee is:¹²

NYC, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester: $1,275.00 per week ($66,300 annually)
Rest of New York State: $1,199.10 per week ($62,353 annually)

An employer classifying a Manhattan manager as exempt because the salary clears the federal $684 line is violating New York law unless the pay hits $1,275 per week. Both the duties test and the salary test have to be satisfied at the same time. Miss either one and the employee is owed overtime.

Protections New York Adds That Federal Law Doesn’t

The FLSA does not require meal breaks, rest breaks, extra pay for long workdays, or any minimum pay for reporting to a canceled shift. New York does.

Meal Breaks

Non-factory workers: a 30-minute lunch between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on shifts of six hours or more that span that window. Shifts starting between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. and running more than six hours get a 45-minute break midway through.
Factory workers: a 60-minute lunch between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Shifts starting between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. and running more than six hours get a 60-minute break midway through.
Everyone: an additional 20-minute break between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. if the workday runs from before 11:00 a.m. to past 7:00 p.m.

Spread of Hours

When the span between the start and end of your workday exceeds 10 hours, including breaks and gaps, New York requires an extra hour of pay at the minimum wage. This applies whether or not you actually worked all 10 hours.¹³

Call-In and Reporting Pay

Show up for a scheduled shift and get sent home? You are still owed at least three hours of pay at your regular rate, or the hours you were scheduled to work, whichever is less. Workers called in for two shifts totaling six hours or less receive at least six hours of pay; three shifts totaling eight hours or less means at least eight hours.

Pay Frequency

Manual workers must be paid weekly. Clerical and other workers must be paid at least twice per month.¹⁴ Falling behind on the schedule is a wage violation in itself, even if the total pay is eventually correct.

Records and the Wage Theft Prevention Act

Federal law requires payroll records to be kept for three years.¹⁵ New York requires six, covering daily hours, gross wages, deductions, and the signed acknowledgment of the hire notice.¹⁶ Six years matches the state’s back-pay recovery window, so employers who can’t produce records for that period have little defense.

Under the Wage Theft Prevention Act, every new hire must receive a written notice at hiring that lists the rate of pay, overtime rate, pay frequency, and any tip credit or allowance claimed.¹⁷ The Department of Labor’s Form LS 54 works as a template for hourly employees.¹⁸ Employers must also issue a detailed pay stub with each payment and post required labor law notices where workers can see them.

Independent Contractor Misclassification

Labeling a worker an independent contractor does not make them one. Both federal and New York law look at how the work actually happens, not what the paperwork says. Misclassification strips workers of overtime, minimum wage, and unemployment protections while sparing the employer payroll taxes and workers’ compensation costs.

The federal economic-reality test weighs how much control the employer has over the work and whether the worker has a genuine chance at profit or loss based on their own initiative. Those two carry the most weight. Skill required, permanence of the relationship, and whether the work is integral to the business round out the analysis. New York applies tests that tend to be even more worker-protective. If you work a set schedule, use tools someone else provides, and do work that looks like a regular job, calling you a contractor is a legal risk the employer is taking.

Filing a Wage Claim

You can file a wage claim with the New York Department of Labor’s Division of Labor Standards without an attorney. Start by gathering pay stubs, personal records of hours worked, the hire notice if you have it, and the employer’s contact information. Complete Form LS 223, available on the Department of Labor website or by calling (888) 469-7365, and submit it online or by mail.¹⁹

An investigator reviews payroll records and interviews the employer. If a violation is confirmed, the Department can order payment of the full unpaid wages plus liquidated damages of up to 100 percent of the amount owed. Willful violations of the state’s equal pay provisions can carry liquidated damages up to 300 percent.²⁰

A private lawsuit is the other route. In court, a prevailing employee can recover the underpayment, liquidated damages, reasonable attorney’s fees, and prejudgment interest. Employers who can prove a good-faith belief they were complying may reduce liquidated damages, but that defense is hard to win on clear violations.

How Long You Have to File

New York gives you six years from the date of the violation to file, and lets you recover back pay for that entire period.²⁰ Federal FLSA claims are much shorter: two years for standard violations, three for willful ones.²¹ For most workers in the state, filing under New York law is the better option. But every week you wait is a week of back pay that eventually drops off the end of the window.

Retaliation Protection

Both laws prohibit firing, demoting, cutting hours, or otherwise punishing a worker for asserting wage rights.

Under the FLSA, a retaliated-against employee can file with the Wage and Hour Division or sue for reinstatement, lost wages, and liquidated damages equal to those lost wages.²² Federal protection covers oral and written complaints, internal complaints to the employer, and even former employees.

New York goes further. Labor Law Section 215 protects employees who file complaints, cooperate with investigations, testify in proceedings, or simply exercise any right under the Labor Law, including protected leave. Civil penalties for retaliation run from $1,000 to $10,000 per violation, and up to $20,000 for repeat offenders within six years. The Department of Labor can also order reinstatement, lost compensation, front pay, and liquidated damages up to $20,000.²³ Retaliating against a worker who files a wage claim usually costs the employer more than paying the original wages would have.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 203 – Definitions
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 14 – Coverage Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 218 – Relation to Other Laws
4
U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
5
New York State Department of Labor. Minimum Wage
6
New York State Department of Labor. Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers
7
New York State Department of Labor. Overtime Frequently Asked Questions
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 56A – Overview of the Regular Rate of Pay Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17A – Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer and Outside Sales Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
10
U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption From Minimum Wage and Overtime Protections Under the FLSA
11
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17H – Highly-Compensated Employees and the Part 541 Exemption Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
12
New York State Department of Labor. Minimum Wage Frequently Asked Questions
13
New York State Attorney General. Wages and Pay
14
New York State Department of Labor. Frequency of Pay
15
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 21 – Recordkeeping Requirements Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
16
New York State Senate. New York Code LAB 195 – Notice and Record-Keeping Requirements
17
New York State Department of Labor. Wage Theft and Labor Standards Law
18
New York State Department of Labor. Notice of Pay Rate
19
New York State Department of Labor. Labor Standards Complaint Form for Individuals
20
New York State Senate. New York Code LAB 198 – Costs, Remedies
21
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 255 – Statute of Limitations
22
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 77A – Prohibiting Retaliation Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
23
New York State Senate. New York Labor Law 215 – Penalties for Retaliation