N.Y. Labor Law § 161: One day rest in seven

§ 161. One day rest in seven. 1. Every employer operating a factory,

mercantile establishment, hotel, restaurant, or freight or passenger

elevator in any building or place shall, except as herein otherwise

provided, allow every person employed in such establishment or in the

care, custody or operation of any such elevator, at least twenty-four

consecutive hours of rest in any calendar week. Every employer operating

a place in which motion pictures are shown shall allow the projectionist

or operator of the motion picture machine and engineers and firemen

therein at least twenty-four consecutive hours of rest in any calendar

week. Every employer operating a place in which legitimate theatre

productions such as dramatic and musical productions are shown or

exhibited shall allow all employees, including the performers in the

cast therein and engineers and firemen, at least twenty-four consecutive

hours of rest in each and every calendar week, but this shall not apply

to any place wherein motion pictures, vaudeville or incidental stage

presentations or a combination thereof are regularly given throughout

the week as the established policy of such place; except that engineers

and firemen employed in such place shall be allowed at least twenty-four

consecutive hours of rest in any calendar week. No employer shall

operate such establishment, place or elevator on Sunday unless he shall

comply with subdivision three. This section does not authorize any work

on Sunday not permitted now or hereafter by law.

Every owner, lessee and operator of a dwelling, apartment, loft and

office building, garage, storage place and building, wherein or whereat

a watchman or watchmen or engineer or fireman are employed, shall allow

such person or persons so employed at least twenty-four consecutive

hours of rest in each and every calendar week.

Every owner, lessee or operator of a warehouse, storagehouse, office,

dwelling, apartment, loft and any other building or structure wherein a

janitor, superintendent, supervisor or manager or engineer or fireman is

employed, shall allow such person or persons so employed at least

twenty-four consecutive hours of rest in each and every calendar week.

Every person employed as a domestic worker as defined in subdivision

sixteen of section two of this chapter, shall be allowed at least

twenty-four consecutive hours of rest in each and every calendar week.

No provision of this paragraph shall prohibit a domestic worker from

voluntarily agreeing to work on such day of rest required by this

paragraph, provided that the worker is compensated at the overtime rate

for all hours worked on such day of rest. The day of rest authorized

under this subdivision should, whenever possible, coincide with the

traditional day reserved by the domestic worker for religious worship.

In addition, after one year of work with the same employer a domestic

worker shall be entitled to at least three days of rest in each calendar

year at the regular rate of compensation.

Every person employed as a farm laborer shall be allowed at least

twenty-four consecutive hours of rest in each and every calendar week.

Twenty-four consecutive hours spent at rest because of circumstances,

such as weather or crop conditions, shall be deemed to constitute the

rest required by this paragraph. No provision of this paragraph shall

prohibit a farm laborer from voluntarily agreeing to work on such day of

rest required by this paragraph, provided that the farm laborer is

compensated at an overtime rate which is at least one and one-half times

the laborer's regular rate of pay for all hours worked on such day of

rest. The term "farm labor" shall include all services performed in

agricultural employment in connection with cultivating the soil, or in

connection with raising or harvesting of agricultural commodities,

including the raising, shearing, caring for and management of livestock,

poultry or dairy. The day of rest authorized under this subdivision

should, whenever possible, coincide with the traditional day reserved by

the farm laborer for religious worship.

2. This section shall not apply to:

a. Foreman in charge;

b. Employees in milk condenseries, milk powder factories, milk sugar

factories, milk shipping stations, butter and cheese factories, ice

cream manufacturing plants and milk bottling plants, where not more than

seven persons are employed;

c. Employees, if the board in its discretion approves, engaged in an

industrial or manufacturing process necessarily continuous, in which no

employee is permitted to work more than eight hours in any calendar day;

d. Employees whose duties include not more than three hours' work on

Sunday in setting sponges in bakeries, maintaining fires, or making

necessary repairs to boilers or machinery.

e. Employees in resort or seasonal hotels and restaurants in rural

communities and in cities and villages having a population of less than

fifteen thousand inhabitants, excluding that portion of the population

of a third class city residing outside of its corporation tax district

where such city embraces the entire area of a former township. As used

in this subdivision, the term "resort" shall apply to any establishment

enumerated herein which operates for not more than four calendar months

and fifteen days in each year, and the term "seasonal" shall apply to

any establishment enumerated herein in which the number of employees is

increased by at least one hundred per cent from the slack to the busiest

season.

f. Employees in dry dock plants engaged in making repairs to ships.

3. Before operating on Sunday, every employer shall designate a day of

rest, consisting of at least twenty-four consecutive hours of rest in

each and every calendar week for each employee, and shall notify each

employee in advance of his or her designated day of rest. No employee

shall be permitted to work on his designated day of rest.

4. Every employer shall keep a time book showing the names and

addresses of his employees and the hours worked by each of them in each

day.

5. If there shall be practical difficulties or unnecessary hardship in

carrying out the provisions of this section or the rules promulgated

hereunder, the commissioner may make a variation therefrom if the spirit

of the act be observed and substantial justice done. Such variation

shall describe the conditions under which it shall be permitted and

shall apply to substantially similar conditions. A properly indexed

record of variations shall be kept by the department.

6. In case of violation of any of the provisions of this section, the

commissioner shall issue an order directing compliance therewith, and

upon failure so to comply shall commence a prosecution as provided by

law.