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Restaurant Labor Compliance Software

Take the complexity out of compliance

  • Streamline your operations, ensure adherence to labor laws, and enhance overall employee satisfaction.
  • Effortlessly meet city-specific scheduling rules with our built-in compliance features
  • Receive scheduling alerts for potential compliance violations, from overtime to minor labor laws

Restaurant labor compliance made easy

Stop stressing about ever-changing labor laws that come with hefty fines for violations. Our in-house compliance team works directly with our product teams to ensure we build the latest regulations into our solutions. No matter how many times things change, one thing never will — we’ve got you covered.

Restaurant Labor ManagementEverything you need for efficient staff management

Forget the endless hours you’ve spent on creating compliant shift schedules. With Fourth, you can generate the perfect schedule for your restaurant within minutes, not hours.

“Fourth as an extension of our team has helped our operations ten-fold.”

— David Culhane, Operations Director, Sun Pub

“Through the advanced labor rules from Fourth, we’ve been able to level the playing field regardless of the experience, technical acumen, and comfort that a manager might have”

— David Lehn, Director of Project Management, Noodles & Company

Restaurant Labor Compliance Compliance-first labor scheduler

Our leading restaurant scheduling software, HotSchedules, has built-in compliance rules for wage, payroll, and Fair WorkWeek laws, allowing you to confidently manage employee shifts. With over two decades as the industry leader in shift scheduling, we protect your restaurant from violations, freeing you to focus on creating exceptional dining experiences without the worry of fines.

Serving a world of flavor while saving millions of dollars in labor with Fourth

“Through the advanced labor rules from Fourth, we’ve been able to level the playing field regardless of the experience, technical acumen, and comfort that a manager might have.”

David Lehn, Director of Project Management

  • 20% increase in forecasting accuracy
  • Reduced labor spend by $4 million

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Restaurant Payroll Management Streamline payroll management with flexibility and precision

With flexible pay rules configuration, automatic updates for minimum wage and compliance rules, real-time alerts for missed breaks, and simplified punch review workflows, managing payroll becomes a seamless part of your operation.

End-to-end Restaurant Management Software

Streamline your entire workforce management process in one integrated platform. From hiring to scheduling, managing, and paying your team, our solution simplifies operations, ensuring efficiency and compliance at every step.

Minor Labor Laws Avoid mistakes and protect young workers

Automatically prevent scheduling issues for minors with alerts for violations and safe shift visibility. Keep your minor workers compliant with the most advanced minor labor law compliance restrictions and safeguards — all built right into your scheduling software. Plus, minors can’t see released shifts that would put them at risk of violating laws

Explore Fourth’s Workforce Management Software Capabilities

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Scheduling
Schedule Scoring icon
Schedule Scoring
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Time & Attendance
Labor Compliance icon
Labor Compliance
Task Management icon
Task Management
Tip Management icon
Tip Management

Frequently Asked Questions

  • How does restaurant labor compliance software work?
    • Restaurant labor compliance software works by monitoring work hours, managing payroll, and staying current with labor compliance laws. It uses integrated rules and alert systems to ensure adherence to regulations, helping avoid costly fines.
  • Can labor compliance software integrate with other systems?
    • Yes, Fourth’s restaurant labor compliance software is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing systems such as POS, HR platforms, and accounting software, making managing your restaurant simple.
  • Does HotSchedules have a configurable rules engine?
    • Yes. Minor rules, meal and break rules, and Fair WorkWeek rules are all configurable with HotSchedules’ labor compliance platform. During implementation, Fourth works with a customer to set up and configure the appropriate labor law parameters to make sure they’re set up for success. We’ll also keep them up-to-date with newly released features and functions to ensure compliance as you scale.
      How do you stay on top of new labor labor changes?
      Our accredited labor compliance officer ensures Fourth is always ahead of labor compliance laws prior to regulation effective date.
  • What is Fourth’s restaurant labor compliance software?
    • Fourth’s labor compliance software is built directly into HotSchedules — across scheduling, time and attendance, and payroll. Rather than a separate compliance module, compliance rules are embedded into the scheduling workflow itself, so managers receive real-time alerts for potential violations as they build and manage schedules, not after the fact.
  • How does Fourth keep up with constantly changing labor laws?
    • Fourth employs an accredited labor compliance officer whose specific role is to ensure the platform stays ahead of new and changing regulations before their effective dates. When a new rule is enacted — a local Fair Workweek ordinance, a state minimum wage change, new minor labor restrictions — the compliance team works with the product team to build it into the platform before it takes effect.
  • What happens when a new labor law is passed in my city or state?
    • Fourth’s in-house compliance team monitors regulatory changes at the federal, state, and local level and updates the platform proactively. Customers are kept up to date with newly released features and functions as compliance rules change — no need to manually track legislative developments or update configurations.
  • How does Fourth handle city-specific scheduling rules like Fair Workweek?
    • Fair Workweek laws vary significantly by jurisdiction — covering advance schedule notice, right to rest between shifts, predictability pay, and access to additional hours for existing employees. The platform includes built-in compliance features for city-specific scheduling rules, configured per location so operators in Fair Workweek cities are automatically held to their local standards without requiring above-store teams to manage rules manually.
  • How does HotSchedules automate Fair Workweek compliance?
    • HotSchedules embeds Fair Workweek rules directly into the scheduling workflow. As managers build or edit schedules, the system flags when a change would trigger a predictability pay obligation, when advance notice windows aren’t being met, or when rest period requirements would be violated — preventing managers from accidentally incurring penalty pay through routine scheduling decisions.
  • Does Fourth support the ‘right to rest’ between shifts requirement?
    • Yes. Right to Rest — which restricts how soon an employee can be scheduled after finishing a previous shift — is one of the configurable labor rules within HotSchedules’ compliance platform. Managers receive alerts when a proposed schedule would violate this requirement for a specific employee.
  • How does Fourth handle minor labor law compliance?
    • HotSchedules includes dedicated minor labor law compliance features that automatically prevent scheduling issues for employees under 18. The system enforces restrictions on shift hours, total weekly hours, and times of day minors can work based on their age and applicable law. Managers receive alerts for potential violations before posting, and minor employees cannot see or pick up released shifts that would put them at risk of a violation.
  • How does the compliance software handle minimum wage and payroll rules?
    • The platform includes automatic updates for minimum wage and compliance rules, ensuring pay rule configurations stay current as rates change at the state and local level. Flexible pay rules configuration allows operators to set up the correct wage structures for tipped and non-tipped employees, and the system prevents sub-minimum wage payouts through built-in payroll compliance checks.
  • How does Fourth help with missed break compliance?
    • The system provides real-time alerts for missed meals and breaks, notifying managers during the shift when an employee hasn’t taken a required break within the mandated window. Managers can take corrective action before the end of the shift — rather than discovering a missed break violation during payroll processing, when penalty pay may already be owed.
  • Does the platform support flexible pay rule configuration?
    • Yes. HotSchedules supports flexible pay rules configuration, allowing operators to define wage structures that reflect their specific workforce mix — including tipped employees, different pay rates by role or location, and jurisdiction-specific overtime thresholds — set up during implementation and updated as regulations change.
  • How are compliance rules set up — does the customer configure them, or does Fourth do it?
    • Fourth handles the initial compliance configuration during implementation, working with the customer to set up the correct parameters for each location’s applicable labor laws. Customers don’t need in-house legal or compliance expertise to get started. Fourth also maintains and updates the rules as regulations change.
  • Can compliance rules be configured differently for different locations or regions?
    • Yes. Because labor laws vary significantly across cities and states, each location can be configured with the rules that apply to it. A location in a Fair Workweek city will have different scheduling constraints than one without such ordinances — and the platform accommodates this without requiring operators to maintain separate systems or manual rule-tracking for each market.
  • What results have customers seen from Fourth’s compliance tools?
    • Noodles & Company achieved a 20% increase in forecasting accuracy and a $4 million reduction in labor spend after implementing Fourth’s advanced labor rules. Their Director of Project Management noted that the platform leveled the playing field regardless of manager experience or technical comfort — meaning compliance was consistently enforced across the board.
  • How does HotSchedules help with labor law compliance?
    • HotSchedules can be configured to enforce local, state, and federal labor laws — including minimum wage, overtime, rest break regulations, and minor labor laws. For Fair Workweek jurisdictions it ensures proper advance schedule notice and adequate rest between shifts. Fourth claims customers save an average of 2% per year in avoided penalty pay.
  • How does scheduling software handle labor law compliance automatically?
    • Fourth’s in-house compliance team works directly with the product team to configure federal, state, and local regulations into the scheduling platform. As managers build schedules, they receive real-time alerts for overtime, Fair Workweek violations, and minor labor law issues. When scheduling is integrated with time and attendance, managers also get live alerts for late clock-ins, missed breaks, and overtime during shifts.
  • Does HotSchedules support Fair Workweek compliance?
    • Yes. HotSchedules is configured to support Fair Workweek ordinances — ensuring employees receive proper advance notice of their schedules and flagging compliance issues as managers make scheduling decisions, before shifts are posted.

Conquer the Day

Save time, reduce costs, and increase profitability with Fourth’s intelligent solutions.

  • Reduce labor costs with accurate demand forecasting that eliminates over and understaffing.
  • Eliminate your HR burden with HR and payroll services that manage it for you.
  • Lower your COGS and drive increased profitability with inventory management solutions.

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