Keeping Up with Evolving Labor Laws: A Smart Solution for Fast Casual and Quick Serve Restaurants
October 17, 2024
by Malysa O’Connor

Compliance with labor laws is a constant challenge in today’s fast-paced restaurant industry. With new predictive scheduling laws and regulations like the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and meal and rest breaks, restaurant chains must navigate an ever-growing maze of rules. From managing wage and hour regulations to adhering to Fair Workweek legislation, it’s easy for operators to feel overwhelmed, especially when relying on outdated systems.
Many fast-casual and quick-serve restaurants still use siloed, disconnected processes to manage labor compliance. This approach leaves them vulnerable to compliance risks, particularly when managing multiple locations across various jurisdictions. The stakes are high: non-compliance can result in penalties, back pay, and even litigation. So, how can restaurants stay ahead?
A Proactive Approach with Legion Workforce Management (WFM)
Legion’s Workforce Management (WFM) Platform removes compliance headaches by offering an end-to-end restaurant solution. Legion WFM automates compliance management, ensuring all labor laws are met seamlessly, from schedule creation to employee time tracking and attestation. It integrates Scheduling, Time and Attendance, and employee self-service, providing complete visibility into every shift. AI-driven technology automatically applies the correct labor laws based on location, minimizing risk and reducing manual errors.
Compliance Made Easy: Fair Workweek and Predictive Scheduling Laws
Fair Workweek and predictive scheduling laws are sweeping the nation. These laws require employers to give workers advance notice of their schedules and offer premium pay for last-minute changes. Restaurants must provide employees with advance notice of their schedules (usually 7-14 days), offer “good faith” estimates of hours at hiring, and pay premiums for last-minute schedule changes. These laws prevent practices like on-call shifts and clopenings (closing one shift and opening the next) that negatively affect employees.
Legion WFM simplifies compliance by generating schedules that meet these legal requirements. Managers can publish schedules two weeks in advance, and employees receive notifications directly on their mobile devices. Premium pay for schedule changes is automatically calculated, and employees can consent to changes or shift swaps. Good faith estimates are sent to new hire employees to attest to breaks and meals on their mobile devices via the Legion app. This automation saves time and ensures compliance across multiple states and cities.
Navigating Overtime and Wage Regulations
Managing overtime is a significant challenge, especially for restaurants operating in multiple states with varying wage laws. Managing employees across various locations or states can be complex, especially with changing wage thresholds and overtime rules. Violations can lead to penalties and lawsuits.
Legion WFM keeps your business compliant by tracking overtime and double-time rules by location, as well as daily, weekly, and 7th-day overtime rules. It alerts managers when shifts approach or exceed legal thresholds. With a real-time attendance dashboard, managers can monitor upcoming overtime and make necessary adjustments before violations occur. Schedule edits and potential compliance risks are automatically flagged when employees work at non-home locations with different minimum wage requirements.
Simplified Meal and Rest Break Compliance
Though federal law doesn’t mandate meal and rest breaks, many states have specific requirements that restaurants must follow regarding mandatory meal and rest breaks based on shift length. Restaurants must carefully track these breaks to avoid penalties, which can be difficult to manage during busy shifts. Some states also differentiate between paid and unpaid breaks, adding further complexity. Failing to comply can lead to fines and negatively affect employee morale.
Legion WFM ensures that meal and rest breaks are automatically scheduled based on local laws, reducing the need for manual tracking. Employees can attest to their breaks and meals directly through the app, and managers can configure break rules that are automatically applied for minors and employees who work across different states. Legion schedules breaks based on shift length and local regulations and automatically computes break premiums. By automating break management, restaurants can ensure compliance with state-specific rules and maintain smooth operations during busy periods.
Real Results with Legion
Before Legion, one fast-casual restaurant chain opted to pay a flat-rate premium for every employee in Oregon because manually tracking schedule change premiums was too complicated and costly.
With Legion WFM, they now have a solution that automatically calculates premium pay and schedule-aware clocks that flag schedule changes, clopening violations, and track employee consent and attestation. As a result, they have seen significant savings in overpayments of premiums and administrative time.
Conclusion
Staying compliant with evolving labor laws doesn’t have to be a nightmare for fast-casual and quick-serve restaurant chains. Legion’s AI-driven platform provides an intelligent, automated solution ensuring restaurant operators can manage compliance with minimal effort. By simplifying labor management, Legion enables restaurant managers to focus on what truly matters: delivering great guest experiences and engaging employees.
Schedule a demo of how Legion’s WFM Software enables intelligent automation that minimizes compliance risk for your quick-serve or fast-casual restaurant while simultaneously maximizing labor efficiency and employee engagement.