HS: Regular Schedules

Overview

The HotSchedules Regular Schedule functionality allows managers to establish and manage the recurring weekly schedule an employee is generally expected to work.

A Regular Schedule establishes an ongoing baseline for an employee's expected weekly shifts and hours. HotSchedules can use this information when building schedules and evaluating differences between an employee's Regular Schedule and their scheduled or worked hours.

Note: Organizations can use Regular Schedule functionality as part of their scheduling process regardless of whether a specific legal requirement applies.

New York City Compliance Considerations

For covered fast-food employers and employees in New York City, a written Regular Schedule is required under the Fair Workweek Law. Covered employers must also provide employees with work schedules at least 14 days in advance.

The Regular Schedule serves as the employee's ongoing scheduling baseline. Differences between the Regular Schedule and the employee's work schedule may be subject to additional requirements under applicable law.

Note: Customers are responsible for determining whether New York City's Fair Workweek requirements apply to their locations and employees and for meeting any related notice, consent, payment, documentation, and recordkeeping obligations.

HotSchedules uses several scheduling concepts that serve different purposes. While these concepts may contain related information, each serves a distinct function and maintaining one does not necessarily satisfy requirements associated with another:

As of July 4, 2021, New York City's Regular Schedule requirement replaced the previous Good Faith Estimate requirement for covered fast-food employees.

For information about Good Faith Estimate functionality, see HS: Good Faith Estimates.

Regular Schedule Behavior in HotSchedules

When creating and managing Regular Schedules, HotSchedules evaluates the schedule against other employee settings and configured scheduling rules. Keep the following behaviors in mind:

• Full-week schedule: A Regular Schedule must represent the employee's complete recurring schedule for the week.
• Availability: A Regular Schedule cannot conflict with the employee's configured availability.
• Right to Rest: A Regular Schedule cannot violate configured Right to Rest rules.
• Minor Rules: If a Regular Schedule conflicts with configured Minor Rules, HotSchedules may display a notification. A notification does not necessarily prevent the schedule from being published.
• Time Off: Approved time-off requests may override the employee's Regular Schedule for the applicable week.
• Shift pickups and swaps: Employees may be able to pick up or swap shifts that differ from their Regular Schedule when those shifts belong to other employees. House Shifts cannot be picked up if they conflict with the employee's Regular Schedule.
• Regular Schedule changes: Changes to an employee's Regular Schedule may require employee acknowledgment or other action before taking effect.

Note: Customers should determine whether schedule differences or changes require employee consent, notice, premium pay, documentation, or other action under applicable requirements.

Create or Change an Employee's Regular Schedule

Managers can create and maintain an employee's Regular Schedule from the employee's profile in the Staff List.

To create a new Regular Schedule:

• From the menu, select Staff > Staff List.
• Select the employee's name.
• From the employee's Regular Schedule subtab, select New Schedule.
• Select the Effective Date for the new Regular Schedule.
• Select a Reason Code. Enter any required Comments.
• Select the days the employee is expected to work and enter the scheduled hours for each day.
• Select the applicable Default Job and Default Position for each shift.
• Review and resolve any scheduling conflicts or rule violations displayed by HotSchedules, including conflicts with the employee's availability or configured scheduling rules.
• Select Save.
• Provide the employee with the required written Regular Schedule and retain any required supporting records.

Note: The Edit option can be used to update the Default Job or Default Position associated with an existing Regular Schedule. Changing these fields does not require additional action from the employee. To change the effective date, scheduled days, or hours, create a New Schedule.

Exclude an Employee from Regular Scheduling

Employees who do not require a Regular Schedule can be excluded from Regular Scheduling requirements in HotSchedules.

To exclude an employee:

• From the menu, select Staff > Staff List.
• Select the employee's name.
• Select the Regular Schedule subtab.
• Select Exclude employee from Regular Scheduling requirements.

Once excluded, the employee can be scheduled without an established Regular Schedule.

Employee Review and Acknowledgment

After a Regular Schedule is created or changed, the employee may be prompted to review the schedule in HotSchedules.

Depending on the type of change and the organization's configuration, the employee may be required to acknowledge, accept, or reject the Regular Schedule before the change takes effect.

Managers should review the employee's response and resolve any outstanding Regular Schedule actions before applying the schedule to a future Posted Work Schedule.

Apply Regular Schedules to the Posted Work Schedule

Once employees' Regular Schedules are established, managers can apply them when building the Posted Work Schedule in the Scheduler.

HotSchedules can use the established Regular Schedules to generate employee shifts for the applicable week. Managers can then review the generated schedule and make any necessary adjustments before publishing.

For instructions on applying Regular Schedules, reviewing the resulting shifts, publishing the schedule, and managing subsequent changes, see HS: Regular Schedule – Applying to Schedules.

Right-to-Rest Considerations

When creating a Regular Schedule, HotSchedules evaluates scheduled shifts against configured Right to Rest rules. If shifts violate a configured rest requirement, HotSchedules displays a conflict that must be resolved before the Regular Schedule can be saved.

Right to Rest requirements and system behavior depend on the rules configured for the organization. For information about configuring these rules, see Pay Exceptions – Predictability Pay and Right to Rest Rules.

Recordkeeping and Notices

Covered employers should maintain records supporting their compliance with applicable Fair Workweek requirements. Depending on the circumstances, relevant records may include:

• Initial and updated written Regular Schedules
• Posted Work Schedules
• Employee-requested schedule changes
• Written consents and acknowledgments
• Records of hours or shifts added, removed, or changed
• Schedule-change and clopening premium payments
• Offers of newly available shifts and employee responses
• Approved time-off requests
• Documentation supporting applicable reductions in hours, disciplinary actions, layoffs, or bona fide economic reasons

Covered employers must post the New York City Fast Food Workers’ Rights notice where employees can easily see it at each covered workplace. The notice may also need to be posted in additional languages when a listed language is the primary language of at least 5% of the workers at the workplace.

Additional Articles

• HS: Regular Schedule – Applying to Schedules
• HS: Fair Work Week – Regular Schedule Variance Report
• HS ASC: Pay Exceptions - Regular Schedule Rule
• HS: Good Faith Estimates