New York labor laws: minimum wage, overtime, leave, final pay and breaks

Why New York has two minimum wages and a freeze for 2027

The Labor Law splits the state into a downstate zone, made of the five boroughs, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester, and the rest of the state. The gap between them is $1.00 an hour in 2026. The statute that set the 2024 to 2026 steps also tied later raises to inflation, with brakes: if certain economic indicators turn, the increase is skipped. For January 1, 2027 the Department of Labor announced that one of those conditions was met, so the general rates stay where they are. Home care aides are the exception and still get their scheduled raise. A worker in Albany or Buffalo therefore keeps $16.00 for at least another year, which matters for budgeting and for anyone comparing an offer upstate with one in Yonkers.

Compare two states for a full-time minimum wage job

First stateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming

Second stateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming

Texas / California, per hour

$7.25 / $16.90

Full-time year (2,080 h)	$15,080 / $35,152
Gap over a year	$20,072
Paid sick leave law	no / yes
Paid family leave program	no / yes

Minimum wage in every state →

Overtime and the salary test that catches many office jobs

Time and a half after 40 hours a week applies to nearly every hourly employee, and residential employees who live in reach overtime after 44. The state test for exempt executive and administrative staff is a weekly salary, $1,199.10 upstate in 2026 and higher downstate, as the table below shows. A coordinator paid $55,000 a year in Rochester is under that line, so the job title does not matter: hours past 40 must be paid at time and a half. Farm workers are on a separate path, with a weekly threshold that is falling in steps until it reaches 40 in 2032.

Leave: sick days, prenatal hours and Paid Family Leave

Sick leave accrues at one hour per 30 worked from the first day, and how much of it is paid depends on the size of the employer, from unpaid hours at the smallest firms to 56 paid hours at employers with 100 or more employees. Since 2025 every employer also owes 20 hours of paid prenatal leave a year, separate from sick time. Paid Family Leave is an insurance program funded by a payroll deduction: it pays a share of your average weekly wage while you bond with a new child, care for a seriously ill relative or handle a military family need, and your job is protected even when the federal FMLA would not cover you because your employer is small or you have not yet worked 1,250 hours. Your own illness is handled by the separate disability benefits program.

Leaving a job in New York

Whether you quit or are let go, the last wages are due by the next regular payday for the pay period in which the job ended. Accrued vacation is owed unless your employer told you in writing that unused days are forfeited, so read the handbook before your last week. If the money does not arrive, the Division of Labor Standards takes wage claims at no cost, and the final paycheck calculator shows how other states compare.

The lunch rule that depends on the time of day

New York does not require short rest breaks for adults, but it does require a meal period: a shift of more than six hours that runs through the window from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. carries an uninterrupted half hour, taken inside that window. Night and early shifts have their own meal periods. These rules apply to adults in most industries; break laws in other states are often looser.