New York Overtime Laws: Why You Have 6 Years to File Your Claim in 2026

If you work in New York and believe you have been underpaid, the state gives you something most workers in this country do not have: time. Under New York Labor Law section 198(3), employees generally have six years to bring an unpaid wage claim. That is three times the federal Fair Labor Standards Act window of two years (or three years if the violation was willful). For a worker who only just figured out they were misclassified or shorted on overtime, those extra years can be the difference between recovering nothing and recovering a substantial sum. Here is what every New York worker should understand about the state’s overtime rules in 2026.

The Six-Year Statute of Limitations: New York’s Biggest Worker Advantage

Most states give workers two or three years to file a wage claim. Under federal law, the FLSA imposes a strict two-year deadline, extended to three years only when the employer’s violation was willful. New York is different.

New York Labor Law section 198(3) allows employees to recover unpaid wages, benefits, wage supplements, and liquidated damages that added up during the six years before you filed your claim. That extended window matters because many wage violations are not obvious. Workers who are misclassified as exempt may go years without realizing they were entitled to overtime. Hourly workers who lose 15 minutes of pay each shift may not notice until the total is a bigger amount over time. Six years of back wages can add up significantly.

In practice, this means a claim filed today in New York may be able to reach back to 2020.

Because federal FLSA claims have a shorter window than New York Labor Law claims, most New York wage cases are brought under both statutes. The worker generally recovers under whichever law provides the larger award.

New York Overtime Basics

Broader Coverage Than Federal Law

Some employer categories that are exempt under the federal FLSA — including certain small retail establishments and certain amusement and recreational businesses — are not exempt under New York wage orders. New York employees at those workplaces are still entitled to overtime.

Agricultural Workers Are Covered

Federal law generally excludes agricultural workers from overtime requirements. New York does not. In 2026, agricultural workers in New York are entitled to overtime after 52 hours per week. However, that 52 hour limit may actually drop closer to 40 per week in the coming years.

The Regular Rate Matters

Overtime must be calculated based on an employee’s full “regular rate of pay,” which generally includes nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and certain commissions. Employers that compute overtime using only base hourly pay may be underpaying workers who earn additional compensation.

2026 Minimum Wage by Region

If you live in New York, your minimum wage depends on your location. As of January 1, 2026:

• $17.00 per hour for employees in New York City, Nassau County, Suffolk County, and Westchester County.
• $16.00 per hour for employees in the rest of New York State.

These rates increased by $0.50 from 2025. Beginning in 2027, New York’s minimum wage will adjust annually based on a market-indexed formula. Tipped workers, fast-food employees, and certain home health aides may be subject to different rate structures.

Exempt Salary Thresholds for 2026

To be classified as exempt from overtime under the executive or administrative exemption, a New York employee generally must meet both a salary test and a duties test. The 2026 salary minimums in New York are significantly higher than the federal floor of $684 per week ($35,568 per year).

If you don’t even make more than the minimum required salary, you cannot be exempt from overtime. It does not matter what your job title is. What matters is the actual work you perform, how much you are paid, and how you are paid.

Spread of Hours Pay: A New York Specialty

New York requires “spread of hours” pay in many industries. Under 12 NYCRR § 142-2.4, when a non-exempt employee works a shift that spans more than 10 hours from start to finish (including unpaid breaks), the employee is generally entitled to one additional hour of pay at the state minimum wage. This rule applies on top of overtime.

An employee working a split shift, a long retail or restaurant day, or a shift where they are required to spend time on-premises may be entitled to spread of hours pay even though the hours actually worked are under 10. The trigger is the total span from clock-in to clock-out, not just productive hours.

What You May Be Able to Recover

New York wage claims often produce larger recoveries than federal claims because of the combination of damages available under the New York Labor Law:

• Unpaid wages covering up to six years of back pay.
• Liquidated damages equal to 100% of the unpaid wages, unless the employer demonstrates a good-faith basis for believing its pay practices were lawful (NYLL § 198).
• Prejudgment interest at 9% per year on the unpaid wages.
• Attorney’s fees and court costs, which may be recoverable in successful wage actions.
• Wage Theft Prevention Act penalties for employers who fail to provide compliant pay statements or wage notices.
• Personal liability for individual owners, officers, and certain managers, in addition to the company itself.

The amount any individual worker may recover depends on the specific facts of the case, the rate of pay, the hours at issue, and the applicable period. Past case outcomes do not guarantee a similar result in any future matter.

Common New York Overtime Violations

Certain violations show up repeatedly in New York wage cases:

• Misclassification as exempt. Paying a salary below the 2026 thresholds, or classifying workers as exempt whose actual duties do not satisfy the executive, administrative, or professional tests.
• Misclassification as independent contractor. Issuing 1099 forms to workers who are economically dependent on the employer and whose work is controlled by the company.
• Off-the-clock work. Requiring employees to perform pre-shift setup, post-shift cleanup, mandatory training, or remote work without recording or paying those hours.
• Failure to pay spread of hours. Skipping the extra hour at minimum wage when a shift spans more than 10 hours.
• Improper tip credits. Restaurant and hospitality employers that fail to satisfy strict notice and recordkeeping requirements may lose the tip credit entirely.
• Pay statement violations. Failing to provide pay stubs that contain all information required by NYLL § 195(3), including hours worked, rates of pay, and deductions.
• Pay frequency violations. Manual workers covered by NYLL § 191 must generally be paid weekly. Recent amendments have narrowed the damages available for some pay-frequency claims where wages were paid at least semi-monthly on schedule, but the underlying requirement remains.

What to Do If You Think You Are Owed Overtime

Keep records of your own hours. New York requires employers to maintain detailed payroll records, but workers who keep their own logs are typically in a much stronger position when the company is saying something different.

Save your pay statements. Compare them to the requirements of the Wage Theft Prevention Act. Missing required information on your pay stubs can itself give rise to a claim.

Document patterns. Did your employer auto-deduct meal breaks you did not take? Are you classified as exempt despite earning below the 2026 threshold? Are you paid a flat rate or day rate regardless of hours worked? These are common starting points for a New York wage claim.

Even though 6 years feels like a long time, you should act quickly. The lookback runs from the date the claim is filed, so each month of inaction is a month of older back pay potentially lost from the back end of the window.

New York Gives Workers Time. Don’t Waste It.

The six-year statute of limitations is one of the most worker-friendly provisions in the country. It exists because the legislature recognized that wage violations often go undiscovered for years. Whether any particular worker has a valid claim depends on the specific facts of their employment and the applicable law. If you believe you have been denied overtime, paid below minimum wage, misclassified, or shorted on spread of hours, the law may still give you the ability to recover those wages, plus liquidated damages, interest, and attorney’s fees.

Josephson Dunlap, Lawyers for the Workers®, represents employees nationwide in wage and hour matters. We offer confidential case evaluations at no cost.