If you place workers in New York, every workday with a spread over 10 hours owes one extra hour at the state minimum wage — even if the worker only put in 7 paid hours, even if they're already on overtime, and including any unpaid lunch in the spread calculation.
This is its own rule, separate from federal overtime. The premium fires per workday, not per week. TimeCardCruncher reads the clock data on each New York workday, detects when the spread exceeds the 10-hour line, and adds the premium to your invoice automatically — so you don't have to scan timecards by eye for long-spread days.
What the rule actually says
Spread-of-hours is a stand-alone state premium with its own statutory hook. It's not a flavor of overtime, and it's not the same as a long-shift bonus — it's a worker-favorable payment that kicks in when the workday is stretched out, regardless of how much actual work fit inside it.
"On each day on which the spread of hours exceeds 10, an employee shall receive one additional hour of pay at the basic minimum hourly rate."
The "spread of hours" is the interval from the worker's first clock-in to their last clock-out on a single workday, including any unpaid breaks taken in between. The premium is one hour at the New York basic minimum hourly rate (the state minimum wage), separate from any other compensation the worker earned that day.
New York's minimum wage is set annually and varies by region. The current rest-of-state rate is the floor; workers placed in New York City, Long Island, or Westchester are subject to higher minimums under the same statute. The spread-of-hours premium tracks whichever rate applies to the worker's location for that workday.
The Second Circuit held that the spread-of-hours premium is owed in addition to, not in lieu of, the worker's regular and overtime earnings for the day. A workday that already crossed into overtime under the federal 40-hour weekly rule still owes the separate spread-of-hours hour — the two rules are independent. Counsel arguing the premium offsets against overtime have not prevailed in federal court since.
Why this trips up staffing operators
Three things about the rule consistently surprise agencies new to New York placements.
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Spread includes unpaid breaks.
A worker who clocks in at 8am, takes a three-hour unpaid lunch, and clocks out at 7pm has a spread of 11 hours despite working only 8. The premium fires. The clock-in-to-clock-out span is what matters, not the hours worked inside it.
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It fires regardless of total hours worked.
An on-call worker who clocks in at 7am, sits idle most of the day, and clocks out at 6pm has an 11-hour spread and owes the premium — even if their paid hours that day total only 4 or 5. The test is the spread, not the duration of work or the worker's weekly total.
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It's separate from federal overtime — not a substitute.
If a worker put in 45 hours that week, federal overtime fired on the last 5. The spread-of-hours premium still applies independently on any New York workday in that week with a spread over 10. The two rules are layered, not exclusive — Doo Nam Yang settled this 20 years ago.
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The regional rate tiers matter.
The premium is owed at the worker's applicable minimum wage. A worker placed in New York City is subject to the NYC minimum, not the rest-of-state rate. Using the wrong tier underpays the worker and creates a wage-and-hour exposure that auditors notice — the gap looks small per event but compounds across a roster.
A worked example
A staffing-placed worker on a regular shift schedule with one split day. The contract regular rate is $30 per hour. The worker's location is rest-of-state, so the 2026 New York minimum wage of $16.00 applies to the spread-of-hours premium.
| Day | Clock | Spread | Paid hours | Spread premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 8:00–12:00 + 15:00–19:00 | 11.00h | 8.00 | |
| Tue | 8:00–16:00 | 8.00h | 8.00 | — |
| Wed | 8:00–16:00 | 8.00h | 8.00 | — |
| Thu | 8:00–16:00 | 8.00h | 8.00 | — |
| Fri | 8:00–16:00 | 8.00h | 8.00 | — |
Monday's spread is 11 hours (8am to 7pm) even though the worker only logged 8 paid hours, because the three-hour mid-day break counts toward the spread. The spread-of-hours premium fires for Monday only. Tuesday through Friday each have an 8-hour spread, which is under the threshold.
The agency's pay obligation under 12 NYCRR 142-2.4 is one hour at the minimum wage ($16.00) to the worker. The invoice to the client adds a separate Spread-of-Hours Premium line at the contract's regular rate ($30.00), distinct from the worker's straight-time hours and clearly labeled. Total invoice: 40 hours × $30 + $30 premium = $1,230.
Regional rate tiers
New York's minimum wage runs in three tiers under N.Y. Lab. Law § 652: New York City, Long Island and Westchester, and the rest of the state. The rates are revised on a published schedule by the New York Department of Labor. TimeCardCruncher applies the rest-of-state tier by default.
For workers placed in higher-tier locations, set a per-contract minimum wage on the client setup page in the dashboard. The override applies only to that contract's spread-of-hours calculations; other contracts in the same batch continue to use the rest-of-state default unless they carry their own override. Override values must be at or above the current rest-of-state floor — sub-floor overrides are rejected at submission so the engine can't accidentally apply a stale or below-statutory rate.
Common mistakes
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Confusing spread with paid hours.
The 10-hour test is on the spread (first clock-in to last clock-out), not on hours worked. A worker who clocks 8am–12pm and 3pm–7pm logs 8 paid hours but has an 11-hour spread, and the premium fires. Reading the rule as "more than 10 paid hours" instead of "spread over 10" misses every split-shift workday on which the rule actually applies.
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Treating overtime pay as covering the premium.
Doo Nam Yang v. ACBL Corp., 427 F.3d 110 (2d Cir. 2005) settled this: the spread-of-hours premium is owed in addition to overtime, not in lieu of it. Counsel arguing the premium can be netted out against overtime earnings have not prevailed since. Attempting to offset is a class-action vector with a documented loss record.
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Applying the rule outside New York.
Spread-of-hours is a New York rule. It does not exist in any other US state. A long-spread workday in New Jersey or Connecticut does not owe a spread-of-hours premium under state law, regardless of how the day's clock entries look. Applying it elsewhere over-pays the worker and over-bills the client against rules that don't apply.
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Using the wrong regional tier.
New York's minimum wage runs in three tiers under N.Y. Lab. Law § 652: New York City, Long Island and Westchester, and the rest of the state. NYC and downstate placements sit at the higher tier. Using rest-of-state rates for downstate placements systematically underpays the premium and creates a quantifiable wage-claim exposure.
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Using last year's minimum wage rate.
The New York Department of Labor revises minimum wage on a published schedule. The premium is computed at the rate in effect on the workday the spread fires — not the rate at the time of invoice generation or contract signing. A January workday after a wage increase needs the new rate; a workday before the increase keeps the old one. Mixing the two across a payroll period is a common pitfall after every annual revision.
What you get with TimeCardCruncher
Spread-of-hours is the kind of rule that looks simple in isolation and slips past a manual review every time. We read the clock data on each New York workday, compute the spread, and add the premium where it fires — as a separate, clearly-labeled line on the invoice with an audit trail showing the day, the spread duration, and the minimum wage that applied. We maintain the New York minimum-wage schedule in our state-rules table and apply each year's rate from its statutory effective date. New York workdays with no spread-of-hours trigger ride through unchanged.