Workday spans more than 10 hours? An extra hour at minimum wage.
New York's spread-of-hours rule is unique. When the interval between the start and end of a workday exceeds 10 hours — even if the worker doesn't work the entire interval, even if there are unpaid breaks — the worker earns one additional hour of pay at the basic minimum wage rate. This is separate from and in addition to overtime.
Spread of Hours Pay
Detects when a worker's daily spread (start of workday to end) exceeds 10 hours. Calculates and pays the 1-hour minimum-wage premium automatically.
What the rule does when spread crosses 10 hours.
The hero card configuration: Avoid at schedule, Flag on payroll. Here's what each does at runtime.
When a manager schedules a workday with start-to-end spread exceeding 10 hours, Teambridge surfaces the spread-of-hours premium cost. Decision-aware scheduling.
On the timesheet, a spread > 10 hours flags the premium for that worker on that day. Pay stub itemizes it under § 195(3).
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Spread, not work time. 10-hour interval, 1-hour minimum-wage premium.
The trigger is the time elapsed from clock-in to clock-out, not the hours actually worked. Unpaid breaks count toward spread. Split shifts where the worker reports back later in the day count toward spread.
Spread = clock-in to clock-out
Spread of hours is the elapsed time from start of workday to end. Includes working time, unpaid meal breaks, and any intervals off duty. A worker who clocks in at 8am, works until 1pm, takes a 3-hour unpaid break, returns at 4pm, and clocks out at 7pm has a spread of 11 hours — even though they only worked 8 hours.
Premium uses minimum wage rate
The hour of premium pay is at the basic minimum wage rate ($17 downstate / $16 upstate) — NOT the worker's regular rate. A worker earning $30/hour still receives spread-of-hours premium at $17/hour. This is a NY peculiarity vs. CA's regular-rate rule for break premiums.
Teambridge tracks spread, not just hours worked.
Spread-of-hours premiums are commonly missed because most timekeeping systems track hours worked, not start-to-end spread. Teambridge handles the distinction by structure.
Start to end, not work time.
For every workday, Teambridge calculates the spread: timestamp of first clock-in to timestamp of last clock-out. Unpaid breaks and split-shift intervals count toward spread.
Auto-applied at payroll close.
When a worker's daily spread exceeds 10 hours, the spread-of-hours premium accrues for that day. Premium amount: 1 hour at the applicable minimum wage rate (regional, not the worker's actual rate).
Separate line per § 195(3).
Spread-of-hours premium appears as a separate line on the wage statement. Worker visibility supports both compliance and trust.
Spread-of-hours cost surfaced.
When a manager schedules a workday with predicted spread > 10 hours (e.g., a 7am-6pm shift), the schedule preview shows the projected premium cost before publish.
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