Clopening Shifts: What They Are and Which Laws Limit Them

By Nicole Hullihen, former SaaS Chief Operating Officer and Microsoft MVP · Updated October 13, 2026

A "clopening" is a close followed by an open: an employee works until 11 p.m., goes home, and is back at 6 a.m. to open. On paper the schedule is covered. In reality the employee gets maybe five hours of sleep, and the opening shift runs on someone who is tired, slower and more likely to make mistakes.

Clopenings are legal in most of the U.S. But a growing number of places have "right to rest" rules that require employee consent, extra pay or both when shifts are too close together. This guide explains what counts as a clopening, the laws that limit them and how employers can schedule around them.

Note: This article is general information, not legal advice. Laws change and apply only above certain employer size thresholds, so confirm with your state or city labor agency or an employment attorney. Last checked October 13, 2026.

What Counts as a Clopening Shift?

There's no single legal definition, but most laws look at the gap between the end of one shift and the start of the next, usually on consecutive days. A few examples:

Federal Law on Clopenings

Federal law doesn't restrict clopenings. The U.S. Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act "has no provisions regarding the scheduling of employees," apart from certain child labor rules. Under federal law, an employer can schedule an adult employee for back-to-back shifts with any gap, as long as all hours worked are paid and overtime is paid for hours over 40 in a workweek. Minors are different: federal and state child labor laws limit how late and how early teens can work, especially on school days.

Right-to-Rest Laws by State and City

These rules come from fair workweek or predictive scheduling laws and generally apply only to larger employers in certain industries.

If your business is below these thresholds, the rules generally don't apply. But the reason these laws exist, tired employees and unpredictable schedules, applies to every business.

How Clopening Pay Works: Examples

Oregon

An employee earning $18 an hour closes at 10:00 p.m. and agrees to open at 6:00 a.m., 8 hours later. The first 2 hours of the opening shift, from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m., fall inside the 10-hour rest window, so they're paid at $27 an hour. The rest of the shift is paid at $18.

Philadelphia

An employee closes at 11:00 p.m. and consents to open at 7:00 a.m., 8 hours later. Because that's less than 9 hours, the employer pays $40 on top of regular wages.

New York City Fast Food

A worker closes at 11:00 p.m. and gives written consent to open at 8:00 a.m., 9 hours later. Because that's less than 11 hours, the employer pays a $100 premium, listed separately on the pay stub. According to NYC's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, failing to pay the premium can cost the $100 plus $500 in damages, and failing to get written consent can add another $500.

Chicago

A covered employee earning $20 an hour finishes at 11:00 p.m. and accepts a shift starting at 7:00 a.m. Because the gap is less than 10 hours, the whole 7:00 a.m. shift is paid at 1.25 times regular pay, or $25 an hour.

Why Clopenings Are a Problem Even Where They're Legal

• Not enough sleep. After commuting, eating and winding down, a 7-hour gap often means 4 or 5 hours of sleep.
• More mistakes. Tired employees make more cash handling, food safety and customer service errors.
• Safety risk. Driving home late and back early, while tired, is a real hazard.
• Turnover. Clopenings are among the most common complaints in hourly jobs, and frequent ones push people to quit.
• Unfairness. They often land on the same reliable people, who are the ones you least want to lose.

How to Avoid Clopenings When You Schedule

1. Set a minimum rest rule for your business, such as 10 or 11 hours between shifts, even if no law requires it.
2. Separate your closers and openers. Build a closing team and an opening team instead of rotating the same people through both.
3. Check the gap before you publish. Look at every employee who closes, and make sure they don't open the next day.
4. Stagger start times. A closer who comes in at 10:00 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m. may be fine.
5. Use volunteers. Some employees prefer a clopening to get a later day off. Let them opt in, and get their agreement in writing where the law requires it.
6. Watch shift swaps. Two employees trading shifts can accidentally create a clopening. Check the gap when approving swaps.

For a full walkthrough, see how to make a work schedule for employees.

Sample Right-to-Rest Policy

Adjust the hours and pay to meet the rules where your employees work. If you're covered by one of the laws above, the law's requirements are the minimum.

Example: Closing and Opening Teams

The simplest way to eliminate clopenings is to stop rotating the same people through both. Here's a week for a store open 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.:

Closers end at 10:30 p.m. and never open the next morning, and openers never close the night before. If someone needs to switch roles for a day, give them the day off in between, or start them on a mid-shift.

Clopenings by Industry

How to Get Written Consent

Where a law requires consent, such as in Los Angeles or New York City, get it in writing before the shift and keep it with your payroll records. A short form works:

Never pressure an employee to sign. In NYC, for example, the worker must have a real opportunity to decline, and consent must come before the clopening is worked.

Tracking Rest Between Shifts

1. Record actual clock-out and clock-in times, not just scheduled times. A close that runs late can turn a legal schedule into a clopening.
2. Calculate the gap from the actual end of the previous shift to the actual start of the next.
3. Flag any gap under your threshold before payroll runs.
4. Pay any premium for the pay period in which it was earned, listed separately on the pay stub where required, as in New York City.

Shift Swaps and Clopenings

Shift swaps are one of the most common ways a clopening sneaks onto the schedule. An employee who closes Friday picks up a teammate's Saturday opening, and nobody notices the gap until Saturday morning. Before approving any swap, check the shifts on either side of the new one for both employees. In covered cities, a swap the employee requested may be treated differently from one the employer requested, so check the specific rule. A scheduling tool that shows each person's full week makes this check take seconds.

Talking to Your Team About Rest Between Shifts

If you're adding a minimum rest rule, tell employees why: you want people rested, safe and able to do their best work. Then explain how it affects them, such as fewer back-to-back shifts and new closing and opening teams, and how they can ask for exceptions if they prefer a clopening to get a later day off.

What Employees Can Do About Clopenings

• Check whether your employer is covered by a right-to-rest law in your city or state.
• Ask your manager to schedule you as either a closer or an opener, not both on back-to-back days.
• If you agree to a clopening in a covered city, check your pay stub for the premium.
• Keep screenshots of the schedule and any messages asking you to work the shift.
• Contact your state or city labor agency if you believe a covered employer isn't following the law.

If clopenings are making your schedule unworkable, our script to ask for a schedule change can help.

Clopenings and Overtime

A clopening doesn't create overtime by itself under federal law, because overtime is based on hours over 40 in a workweek, not on the gap between shifts. But clopenings often happen in weeks with extra shifts, so check weekly totals. In states with daily overtime, also check daily totals. California, for example, requires time and a half for hours over 8 in a workday and double time for hours over 12, so a long closing shift plus an early opening shift can add up quickly.

Related Scheduling Laws

Right-to-rest rules are usually part of a larger set of fair workweek requirements, such as posting schedules 14 days ahead and paying predictability pay for late changes. See can an employer change your schedule without notice for the full list of covered cities, and reporting time pay by state for show-up pay rules.

Catch Clopenings Before You Publish

Updoot's scheduling software shows each employee's shifts side by side as you build the schedule, so a close followed by an open is easy to spot and fix before it goes out, and its time clock records actual end and start times if you need to calculate a premium.

Sources

• U.S. DOL: FLSA Frequently Asked Questions
• Oregon BOLI: Predictive Scheduling
• Seattle: Secure Scheduling
• Los Angeles: Fair Work Week
• Chicago Office of Labor Standards: Fair Workweek Notice
• Philadelphia: Fair Workweek FAQ
• NYC DCWP: Fast Food Fair Workweek FAQ
• Berkeley: Fair Workweek FAQ
• Evanston: Fair Workweek
• U.S. DOL: State Labor Offices
• California Labor Commissioner: Overtime FAQ
• U.S. DOL: Fact Sheet #43, Child Labor (hours for minors)
• U.S. DOL: Overtime Pay

Frequently Asked Questions