When you finish this, you will hold one scheduling block per construction shift your crew is booked on.

Each block names four things: the shift you set, the notice you sent, the notice you received, and what actually happened on site.

That block is what later supports a two-hour or four-hour claim under New York's new reporting-pay rule. It is the record the Act now dates.

On 2026-09-09, Governor Hochul signed the New York Construction Reporting Pay Act (A6950 / S9843, Chapter 291 of 2026). The Act takes effect ninety days after signing, approximately 2026-12-08.

On a scheduled public-works shift, a worker who reports and works fewer than four hours must be paid for four hours. The rate is the prevailing rate, including supplemental benefits.

A scheduled public-works shift cancelled with less than twelve hours' notice triggers two hours of pay. The rate is the prevailing rate.

Parallel obligations attach to private construction at the promised hourly wage. The Act lists no carve-outs for weather, equipment failure, failed inspection, or third-party delay.

Translation: the shift that used to live in a text thread now carries a priced floor someone else set.

Why it stings

You have been eating the cancelled shift for years. Now the rule names the number.

The myth that stops you

"A screenshot of the superintendent's text is enough."

It is one artifact. The record is four. The shift you scheduled. The notice you sent your crew. The notice you received from the GC or owner. The actual event on site. One artifact is not a record. Four, dated, filed, is.

None of this is a personal failing. Nobody teaches it. Up until now.

The steps

Step 1. Open one block per scheduled shift. (3 minutes)
Copy the template below into the system you already use. One block per shift, per worker. Do it when the shift is set, not after it is cancelled.

Step 2. Date the scheduled shift. (2 minutes)
Site identifier. Public works yes or no. Worker name. Crew role. Scheduled start date and start time. Hourly rate category as a label on your books. Not a number. The number is for valuation. This block is for the record.

Step 3. Record the notice you sent your crew. (2 minutes)
Date. Time. Channel (text, call, email, dispatch app). Where the artifact lives. If the only artifact is a verbal, write that down too. A verbal is still a dated event when you record it on the day.

Step 4. Record the notice you received from the GC or owner. (3 minutes)
Date. Time. Channel. Where the artifact lives. The 10 p.m. text, the 6 a.m. call, the email at 11:47 the night before. Attach each one. The twelve-hour line in the Act is read against the scheduled start time, so both time stamps belong on the record.

Step 5. Record the actual event. (2 minutes)
Three options. Reported and worked. Reported and sent home. Cancelled before report time. Pick one. Attach the sign-in sheet, the dispatch log, the foreman's note, the gate record. Use what your firm already keeps.

Step 6. Count the elapsed hours. (3 minutes)
Hours between notice received and scheduled start. A count. Not a legal conclusion. The Act will do its work on your record; your record just has to be there.

See the difference? A payroll spreadsheet captures hours worked. The Act now puts a priced floor on hours scheduled and not worked. Different question. Different record.

The example: the statute is the proof

The New York Construction Reporting Pay Act, Chapter 291 of 2026, is the dated statutory record. Signed 2026-09-09. Effective 2026-12-08. Two hours of cancellation pay. Four hours of reporting pay. One twelve-hour notice window.

Those are not opinions. They are the quanta the statute put on the page.

Translation: the record you keep this week is what the statute reads in Q1 2027.

Your template

Copy this. One block per shift.

SCHEDULED SHIFT RECORD
Site: ____________    Public works: Y / N
Worker: ____________    Crew role: ____________
Scheduled start: ______ (date, time)
Hourly rate category on our books: ____________ (label, not amount)

Notice sent to worker: ______ (date, time, channel, where it lives)
Notice received from GC / owner: ______ (date, time, channel, where it lives)

Actual event: [reported and worked] / [reported and sent home] / [cancelled before report time]
Elapsed hours, notice received to scheduled start: ______

What this does not do

This block names what happened and when.

It does not price the slot your firm just lost. The statutory floors are a baseline. They are not your rate against your capture rate, your overhead, and your committed labor. A well-documented career is just a well-organized donation until someone values it. Valuation of a cancelled shift is the next problem. Lab Tools take it up.

Open one block for every scheduled shift this week. Date it today.

The record is step one. What it is worth is the next step. Lab Tools

Thank You; It's True™