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Mayor Bill de Blasio recently signed two bills, Int. No. 1415-A and Int. No. 1396-A, into law (collectively, the “Laws” or “Law”) that will have a dramatic impact on fast-food employment. Effective July 4, 2021, the Laws will subject covered
[1] New York City fast-food restaurant employers to sweeping new obligations that will grant their employees rights and protections typically possessed only by employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement with a union.
In effect, the Laws, which were championed by the Service Employees International Union, grant union-style protections to fast-food employees, prohibiting fast-food employers from terminating or cutting employees’ hours without just cause, and will require employers that lay off employees due to bona fide economic reasons to do so in order of seniority. Such seniority rights are a hallmark of collective bargaining agreements. The Laws will also require fast-food employers to adopt written progressive discipline policies, in addition to providing employees with regular, predicable schedules and weekly shifts across each workweek. Further, the Laws will allow employees to pursue alleged unlawful discharge violations in arbitration, even absent a specific arbitration agreement with the fast-food employer. Notably, the Laws apply even where fast-food employees are covered by an existing collective bargaining agreement.