Labour rules

Erlangly checks every schedule against the labour law where each person works: as it generates a draft, when you change a shift, when people swap, and before anything is published. The rules come from signed rule packs, for the United States (federal law and 18 states), Canada (federal law and all ten provinces), Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Panama, the Philippines, South Africa, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The packs help you follow the law, but they aren't legal advice: whether a schedule is lawful is for you and your advisers (licence agreement, section 4). Where this page says a rule isn't checked, look at it yourself.

Whose rules apply

Choose the labour law your organisation follows under Settings → Organisation, as its Labour rules. A site whose people work under a different law has its own, on the site's page, and so can a person, on theirs. A person follows their own labour rules if they have them, otherwise their site's, otherwise the organisation's. Settings → Labour rules lists the rules in force for each jurisdiction you use, and its holidays.

How the checks work

Each rule is set as a violation or a warning. A violation must be fixed: it stops the change, or the publishing, until it is. A warning can go ahead once you've seen it and confirmed it: see When the schedule changes. Settings → Labour rules shows which each rule is.

When a draft is generated

Generation treats these as hard limits. The week before the period counts, so rest and days in a row carry on across it. A draft made once there's a schedule follows on from the schedule's days before the start of next week, which stay when it takes over from then.

The Labour rules section of a draft lists what the latest check found: each issue's day, person and rule, with Open to go to the shift. It follows your edits, and Check again checks the whole draft. A contract's own limits, its max a day and days off in a row, are kept to as well: see Contracts, availability and time off.

When the schedule changes

A supervisor scheduling coaching or a meeting where there's overage gets only times that keep to the rules: see Activities supervisors schedule. Swaps are checked for both people: see Shift swaps.

Changing a rule

Settings → Labour rules lists the rules in force for each jurisdiction: you can tighten any rule, and an admin can loosen one with a reason. Each jurisdiction there says how current its rules are, like Rules as of September 28, 2026: the day its rule pack was signed. Every rule pack is checked against its official sources each quarter, and any change in the law ships in the next release.

Holidays

Settings → Labour rules lists each jurisdiction's holidays for the year, from its rule pack; the arrows show other years. Holidays are worked out for this year and the next two, and move on a year each January by themselves. Holidays proclaimed for a single year, such as the Philippines' each September and its Eid days, ship in the next release once they're proclaimed; until an update brings them, a year shows the holidays that recur.

Add a holiday for one the pack doesn't have, such as a city's holiday or a company day off. It's marked Added here, and you can delete it; the pack's own holidays can't be changed. Installing a newer rule pack keeps yours, and if the pack brings the same holiday, it's the pack's from then on. Some holidays are announced only a week or a few before the day, such as Trinidad and Tobago's Eid-ul-Fitr and Divali, and Guyana's Phagwah, Eid-ul-Adha, Youman Nabi and Deepavali: add each once it's announced, until an update brings it.

Forecasts leave out the holidays of the labour law your organisation follows (Settings → Organisation), the pack's and yours alike, from their next calculation, and suggest marking those in their own dates: see Holidays and special days.

How some rules are counted

Some packs have rules that count hours in their own way. The countries below say which they use.

Day, mixed and night shifts

Where the law sets shorter hours for work at night, each shift is a day, mixed or night shift by how much of it falls in the night, for example 18:00 to 06:00.

• More than 3 hours of night makes a night shift, with 7 ordinary hours a day and 42 a week, and so does a shift that's all at night, however short.
• Any other night up to 3 hours makes a mixed shift, with 7.5 and 45.
• None makes a day shift, with 8 and 48.

A shift's night includes any breaks in it, and a shift past midnight counts the night on both sides. Hours past a shift's ordinary hours are overtime, and the check names the kind of shift: A night shift (more than 3 h between 18:00 and 06:00): 8 h worked, 1 h past the ordinary 7 h.

A week with different kinds of shift goes by the lowest weekly hours among them, so one night shift makes it 42. That's the cautious reading of the law.

Caps on overtime

Where the law limits overtime, say to 3 hours a day and 9 a week, a day's overtime is its hours past the shift's ordinary hours. A week's is its days' overtime, plus any of its other hours past the ordinary week. A cap set to block publishing is a hard limit for generation too. It counts overtime past the overtime threshold, or the day, mixed and night shifts' hours, so while it blocks publishing those can be changed but not turned off: set the cap to warn, or turn it off, first.

Meals by hours of work

Where the law asks for a meal without saying when, as in the Philippines, the check asks for one for every so many hours of work: there, 60 minutes for every 7, paid or not. A 9-hour shift with an hour's unpaid lunch has it; an 8-hour shift with a 30-minute unpaid one doesn't.

A compressed workweek

Where the law lets people work longer days in a shorter week, it can have rules of its own. In the Philippines, a compressed workweek has overtime after 12 hours a day or 48 a week, instead of after 8 hours a day. It only counts where most of the people it covers agreed to it and DOLE's regional office was told; otherwise their hours past 8 a day are overtime as usual.

Its rules never apply by themselves: choose Compressed workweek, under the Philippines, as the labour rules of the sites or people who work one, and Settings → Labour rules lists it from then on.

• If their days are shorter, say five of 9.6 hours, you can tighten its daily overtime threshold to their day there, to be warned of any hours past it.
• If their normal week is 5 days (40 hours), tighten the weekly overtime threshold to 40 too.

At a glance

What each country's labour rules check, in short. The hours are where overtime starts (in Jamaica, where the standard day and week end), and a rule warns unless it says blocks: see How the checks work. A dash means it isn't checked; generation still keeps its own 8 hours' rest and 6 days in a row.

Barbados

No law sets the hours of office work in general, so Barbados's labour rules have the public holidays and nothing else. A retailer's or wholesaler's own contact centre, or one that takes orders for goods, may be under the Shops Act: choose Shops Act, under Barbados, as the labour rules of its sites or people. There:

These all warn rather than block, as the person can agree to more; generation keeps to the rest and the 5 days.

Holidays: When Emancipation Day, 1 August, is a Sunday or a Monday, the Tuesday after is the holiday, as Kadooment Day has the first Monday in August. Christmas on a Sunday stays a holiday, with the Monday and Tuesday after; another holiday on a Sunday is taken on the Monday, and one on a Saturday stays.

Good to know

• Look at these yourself:
  • 5 days in any 7, which 4 days on, 1 off and 4 on goes past;
  • the Chief Labour Officer's certificate for shop staff working between 23:00 and 07:00;
  • and, for every contact centre, opening on a public holiday, which the Public Holidays Act allows only the businesses it exempts.
• Nothing checks the Workstation Regulations 2022's 5-minute break after each hour at a screen, for anyone at one more than 6 hours a day or 30 a week: the rule would warn on nearly every shift, and can't yet come turned off for you to turn on, so plan those breaks, or time away from the screen, yourself.

Belize

Holidays: National Heroes and Benefactors Day and Indigenous Peoples' Resistance Day are on the nearest Monday, and other holidays on a Sunday are taken on the Monday after, but for Christmas: on a Sunday it stays, with Boxing Day on the Monday. When the Minister moves a holiday by notice, as Labour Day 2024 went to Monday 29 April, add the new day with Add a holiday; the old one stays listed until an update.

Good to know

• The law asks for 9 hours' rest at night (by day for night workers), and the check looks between any two shifts, so a split day (08:00–12:00 and 16:00–20:00), or two clients' shifts on one day, blocks too: an admin can loosen the rule for split days, with that as the reason.
• Generation doesn't place meals by the law, so set the lunch window in your shift patterns to keep every stretch of work to 6 hours: a 9-hour shift with an hour's lunch needs it to start between 2 and 6 hours in. Evening out breaks doesn't move a lunch to where it would break the rule: that lunch stays where it was.
• Where the Labour Commissioner has approved another arrangement for continuous shifts, an admin can loosen the rule, with the approval as the reason.
• A run of up to 12 days across two weeks can still have a rest day in each, though a seventh day in a row warns.
• Some of the law isn't checked, so look at these yourself:
  • shift workers whose hours average 9 a day and 45 a week over 3 weeks or less, who are owed no overtime, so its warnings don't apply to them;
  • supervisors, managers and confidential staff, whom the overtime and days-a-week rules don't cover (the rest and the break do);
  • and work on a public holiday or a rest day, which needs the person's agreement.

Canada

Federal law, for federally regulated employers such as banks, telecoms and airlines, and all ten provinces. There's no pack for the territories. Each checks:

Holidays: Where a province's holidays aren't in its pack, add them with Add a holiday (see Holidays).

Good to know

• Reporting pay means a shift is paid for at least 3 hours (4 in British Columbia), so a shorter one warns.
• Where a rule isn't checked, look at the law yourself; generation still keeps its own 8 hours' rest and 6 days in a row.

Guyana

The National Minimum Wage Order, which names call centres, sets a normal week of 40 hours on at most 5 days.

The law sets no daily overtime, rest between shifts, break or days in a row for call centres, so none is checked; generation keeps its own 8 hours' rest and 6 days in a row.

Holidays: Phagwah, Eid-ul-Adha, Youman Nabi and Deepavali are dated by notice each year: 2026's are in the rule pack, with Deepavali, on Sunday 8 November, taken on Monday 9 November, as the Ministry of Home Affairs' list has it. If its notice gives another day, add that day with Add a holiday; the Monday stays listed until an update. A holiday on a Sunday is taken on the Monday after; one on a Saturday stays. Every Sunday is a public holiday by law too, which forecasts already treat as a Sunday.

Good to know

• Look at these yourself:
  • a sixth day of work in a week, whose hours may be overtime even under 40;
  • and Sunday and public-holiday work, which is paid at double time.

Jamaica

Holidays: The holidays are Jamaica's public holidays, Ash Wednesday and National Heroes Day, the third Monday in October, among them. A holiday on a Sunday is taken on the Monday after, and Labour Day, 23 May, on a Saturday too; when Christmas is a Sunday, Boxing Day is taken on the Tuesday.

For BPOs there, see Workforce management for Jamaica's BPOs.

Panama

Each shift is a day, mixed or night shift, by how much of it falls between 18:00 and 06:00, with its own ordinary hours: 8, 7.5 or 7 a day, and 48, 45 or 42 a week.

Holidays: The holidays are Panama's national ones; one on a Sunday is taken on the Monday after.

The Philippines

The law sets no rest between shifts; generation keeps its own 8 hours. A compressed workweek has rules of its own: see A compressed workweek.

Holidays: The holidays are the nationwide ones: add regional and local special days, such as Metro Manila's 16 to 18 November 2026, with Add a holiday under Settings → Labour rules (see Holidays).

Good to know

• Where people doing non-manual work, or a site open 16 hours a day or more, get a paid meal of at least 20 minutes, an admin can loosen the meal rule to 20 minutes, with that as the reason; it then passes a short unpaid meal too.
• Some of the law isn't checked, so look at these yourself:
  • a meal shorter than 60 minutes, which must be paid, and the meal on shifts with less than 7 hours of work;
  • short breaks of 5 to 20 minutes, which must be paid (an unpaid one isn't counted as work, so it can hide overtime);
  • the weekly rest of 24 hours in a row, which a day off between a late finish and an early start can fall short of;
  • posting rest-day schedules a week before they start;
  • and night work between 22:00 and 06:00, with its 10% differential and its health checks and facilities.

South Africa

Holidays: A public holiday on a Sunday stays one, and the Monday after is a public holiday too. When Christmas is a Sunday, Tuesday 27 December is a holiday too, as the President has declared it each time since 2011.

Good to know

• Rest is checked between any two shifts, so a split day (08:00–12:00 and 16:00–20:00), or two clients' shifts on one day, blocks as well, and an admin can loosen it for split days, with that as the reason.
• Where a written agreement shortens the meal break to 30 minutes, or a collective agreement allows more overtime, an admin can loosen the rule, with the agreement as the reason.
• Generation doesn't place meals by the law, so set the lunch window in your shift patterns to keep every stretch of work to 5 hours: a 10-hour shift with an hour's lunch needs it to start between 4 and 5 hours in.
• A written agreement that drops the meal on days under 6 hours can't be set yet, so those shifts still warn.
• Some of the law isn't checked, so look at these yourself:
  • the 36 hours themselves, which a day off between a late finish and an early start can fall short of;
  • the 8-hour day for someone working more than 5 days a week, whose 9th hours are overtime that the 10-hour cap doesn't count;
  • Sunday work by someone who doesn't usually work Sundays, which counts towards the 10 hours of overtime;
  • work on a public holiday, which needs the person's agreement;
  • night work's agreement, allowance and transport;
  • and people earning above the earnings threshold, whom most of these limits don't cover.

Trinidad and Tobago

The law on hours and breaks, the Minimum Wages Order, covers only people paid up to 1.5 times the minimum wage: TT$30.75 an hour since January 2024. So there are three sets of labour rules, each with the public holidays:

• Trinidad and Tobago, the default, for the people the Order covers;
• Shift work, for those of them on shift work;
• and Paid over 1.5 times the minimum wage, with no rules, for everyone else.

Choose the one that fits as the labour rules of each site or person.

Neither has rest between shifts or days in a row, as the law sets none; generation keeps its own 8 hours and 6 days.

Holidays: A holiday on a Sunday, or on the same day as another, moves to the next day that isn't a Sunday or a holiday; one on a Saturday stays. Carnival Monday and Tuesday aren't public holidays, though most offices close: add them if yours does.

Good to know

• The law counts the 4.5 hours from the shift's start and the check counts hours of work, so an unpaid break before the meal lets it come later than the law allows.
• Some of the law isn't checked, so look at these yourself:
  • who counts as a shift worker, which the law doesn't say;
  • the second break, 15 minutes within 3 hours of the meal (a paid 10 minutes on shift work);
  • the paid breaks on a day 2 hours or more past 8;
  • and work on a day off, a Sunday or a public holiday, which is overtime whatever the week's hours.

The United States

Federal law and 18 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington. People elsewhere in the US follow the federal rules.

Every US rule warns rather than blocks, and the packs have no rest between shifts or days in a row, so generation keeps its own 8 hours and 6 days.

Holidays: The holidays are the federal ones: add any state holiday your centre keeps with Add a holiday (see Holidays).

Good to know

• Some states' own meal and rest breaks aren't checked, such as Colorado's, New York's, Illinois', Massachusetts', Minnesota's and Washington's, so look at those yourself.