The mistakes that are easy to make
Nobody sets out to schedule a 17-year-old until 11 p.m. on a school night, or to give someone a 7-hour break between a closing shift and an opening shift. It happens because you're moving people around on a Sunday night and the rules aren't in front of you.
PinkLinq keeps them in front of you. Choose your state under Settings, then Labor compliance, and the app checks your schedule and your time clock against that state's common rules.
What gets flagged
- Meal breaks. A shift that's long enough to need one, with no break recorded.
- Rest breaks. Where a state requires paid rest time, such as 10 minutes for every 4 hours in California.
- Daily overtime. Hours over a daily limit, where a state has one.
- Short rest between shifts. The "clopen," where someone closes late and opens early.
- Late schedules. Shifts published with less notice than a local scheduling law requires.
- Minors' hours. Too many hours in a day or week, or shifts too late or too early. This one needs a birthday on the person's profile.
The presets
| Preset | What's different about it |
|---|---|
| United States (federal) | Minors' hours only, since federal law doesn't require breaks for adults |
| California | Meal and rest breaks, overtime after 8 hours in a day |
| New York State | Meal breaks, minors' hours |
| New York City | Adds Fair Workweek rest and two-week notice |
| Washington, DC | Minors' hours |
| Washington State | Breaks, plus Seattle scheduling rules |
| Oregon | Breaks, plus predictive scheduling |
| Illinois | Meal breaks, plus Chicago Fair Workweek |
| Custom | Set every value yourself |
If you're somewhere else, start from the federal preset and add what applies to you using Custom. Every value can be changed.
It flags. You decide.
Nothing here stops you from publishing a shift or stops someone from clocking in. A flag is a heads-up, because real life has exceptions. Someone may have signed a waiver, or a rule might not apply to a business your size, and a piece of software can't know that.
That's also why this isn't legal advice. These presets are a practical summary of common rules, and the law can change, or cover a detail we haven't modeled. Some scheduling laws only apply to certain industries or to larger employers, and many have rules on pay when a schedule changes that we don't calculate. For the specifics that apply to you, check with your state labor department or an employment lawyer.
Where you'll see it
On the schedule. As you build the week, flags appear next to the shifts that have a problem. That's the cheapest moment to fix one.
On timesheets. Missed breaks show up during your review of the week, based on what really happened, not what was planned.
On the overview. A list of who's heading into overtime appears, so you can adjust before it costs you.
Why bother?
Wage and hour claims are often built on small things repeated many times. One missed meal break costs little. The same missed break, across a team and over a couple of years, can cost a lot. Good records help too. Having every punch, every edit and its reason on file makes it far easier to answer questions later.
Learn more
We've written plain-language guides on meal and rest breaks, predictive scheduling laws, how late minors can work and overtime.
What it costs
Labor-law checks are part of scheduling in the Operations hub, on every plan. It's free for up to 10 people, and Basic costs $14.50 a month billed yearly for your first 30 people.