Illinois · Scheduling · Updated April 2026

Chicago Fair Workweek: 14-day advance schedules for covered employers and industries.

The Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance covers 7 industries (Building Services, Healthcare, Hotels, Manufacturing, Restaurants, Retail, Warehouse Services) for employers above size thresholds. Covered workers earning at or below $32.60/hr (as of July 1, 2025) get 14-day advance schedules, predictability pay for changes, 10-hour rest between shifts, and hours-offered-first to existing workers. Penalties run $500 per worker per offense.

Notice
14 days
Wage Threshold
$32.60/hr
Rest
10 hrs between shifts
Active

Chicago Fair Workweek Compliance

Identifies covered employers, industries, and workers. Enforces 14-day notice, predictability pay calculation, 10-hour rest rule, and hours-offered-first workflow.

Block schedule under 14-day notice
Calculate predictability pay on changes
Warn on shift gaps under 10 hours
Surface hours-offered-first opportunity
Always running

What those rules do as Chicago covered shifts are scheduled.

The hero card configuration: Block on undernotice publish, Critical on predictability pay, Avoid on rest violations, Flag on hours-offered.

Block · publish under 14-day notice

When a covered employer attempts to publish a schedule that gives covered workers less than 14 days notice, the publish is blocked. Workers can voluntarily accept under-notice shifts but cannot be required to.

Critical · on predictability pay required

When a published schedule is changed inside the 14-day window, Teambridge calculates predictability pay (1 hour at minimum wage for added/changed shifts; 50% of cancelled shift hours for shorter notice cancellations).

Avoid · shift gap under 10 hours

When a worker's previous shift ends less than 10 hours before the next shift starts, Teambridge warns the manager. The worker can voluntarily accept (and gets 1.25× pay for the second shift), but cannot be required to.

Flag · hours-offered-first opportunity

When new shifts become available, Teambridge surfaces existing workers who could fill them — meeting the Ordinance requirement to offer hours to existing workers before hiring new ones.

Skip the configuration

Deploy Fair Workweek compliance in your Teambridge.

Tell us about your Chicago covered workforce. We'll spin up Fair Workweek compliance with notice tracking, predictability pay, and 21 other Illinois policies in a sandbox tenant.

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The rule, plainly stated

Coverage layered — industry, employer size, worker wage threshold.

Fair Workweek coverage is multi-dimensional: only certain industries, only employers above size thresholds, only workers earning at or below the wage threshold. Getting coverage right is half the operational work.

Chicago Municipal Code § 6-110 — Fair Workweek Ordinance: A Covered Employer shall provide a Covered Employee with a written schedule no later than 14 days before the first day of any new schedule. A Covered Employer shall pay a Covered Employee additional pay for any changes to the work schedule made within 14 days before the first day of the new schedule.

Covered industries — 7 specific

Building Services, Healthcare, Hotels, Manufacturing, Restaurants, Retail, Warehouse Services. Each has its own definition under the Ordinance. A business not in one of these 7 industries is not covered regardless of size.

Employer size thresholds

General: 100+ global employees, of whom at least 50 are covered employees in Chicago. Restaurants: 250+ global employees and 30+ locations. Non-profits: 250+ global employees. Sub-threshold employers in covered industries are not covered. Most Teambridge customers in covered industries fall above the threshold.

On autopilot

Teambridge handles coverage routing, the 14-day clock, predictability pay math, and hours-offered.

Fair Workweek is the most operationally complex scheduling rule outside of California. Manual compliance is essentially impossible at scale; Teambridge runs it at the source.

01 · Coverage routing

Industry + size + wage threshold.

Each Chicago worker's coverage is determined by employer industry, employer size, worker wage. Coverage flag is set on the worker record and drives all downstream Fair Workweek logic.

02 · 14-day clock enforcement

Schedule publish gated.

Schedule publish is gated against the 14-day notice window. Publishing closer than 14 days requires either worker voluntary acceptance or predictability pay.

03 · Predictability pay calculation

Changes auto-calculate cost.

When a schedule change happens inside 14 days, Teambridge calculates the predictability pay owed (1 hr min wage for additions/changes; 50% of cancelled hours for short-notice cancellations) and adds it to the worker's pay.

04 · Hours-offered workflow

Existing workers see new hours first.

When new shifts become available, the system identifies eligible existing workers and routes the offer to them with a reasonable acceptance window before opening to new hires.

Free · No commitment

Still evaluating? Get a free Illinois compliance audit.

Send us your existing Illinois scheduling and pay configuration. Our compliance team returns a written audit within 5 business days — every Illinois-specific exposure ranked by risk and back-pay liability.

FAQ

People also ask.

Who's covered by Chicago Fair Workweek?
Covered industries: Building Services, Healthcare, Hotels, Manufacturing, Restaurants, Retail, Warehouse Services. Covered employers: 100+ global employees with 50+ in Chicago (different thresholds for restaurants and non-profits). Covered workers: those earning at or below $32.60/hr or $62,561.90/yr (as of July 1, 2025).
What's the notice requirement?
14 days advance written notice of the schedule before the first day of any new schedule. Schedules can be posted, distributed in writing, or delivered electronically. The format is flexible but the timing is strict.
How is predictability pay calculated?
1 hour of pay at minimum wage for shifts added or changed inside 14 days. 50% of cancelled shift hours for cancellations made less than 24 hours in advance. The math runs on the affected shift's hours, not the worker's total wages.
Can workers refuse last-minute changes?
Yes. Covered workers have the right to decline added shifts or hours that fall inside the 14-day window. Declining is not grounds for adverse action — retaliation is a separate violation.
What's the 10-hour rest rule?
Covered workers have the right to decline a shift that begins less than 10 hours after the end of the prior shift. If they accept (clopening), they earn 1.25× pay for hours that fall within the 10-hour rest window.
How does hours-offered-first work?
Before hiring new workers or assigning shifts to temp/seasonal staff, the employer must offer the hours to existing covered employees who are qualified. The offer must be in writing with a reasonable acceptance window.
How does Teambridge enforce all of this?
Coverage routing is automatic per worker. Schedule publish is gated against the 14-day window. Predictability pay calculates on every change. Hours-offered-first surfaces eligible workers before new-hire workflows. The 10-hour rest warning fires before clopening assignments.