Employee availability form template for a café or restaurant

Most scheduling fights start with availability nobody wrote down. "I told you I can't do Tuesdays" meets "you never said that", and both people are telling the truth as they remember it. A form fixes the memory problem: what each person said, on which date, and what you agreed.

Our fair scheduling guide (coming Nov 8) explains why availability should come in two layers, "can't work" and "rather not", and why it goes stale. This post is the form: one page per person, filled in at hiring and again whenever life changes.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check your state's rules for minors and any fair workweek law in your city.

When to use it

• At hiring, before the first schedule. It belongs in the new-hire packet with the orientation checklist.
• Every three months, as a quick "still true?" check.
• Before a school term starts or ends, for anyone in school. Our back-to-school scheduling guide has the fall timeline.
• Whenever someone's life changes: a second job, childcare, a class schedule.

The form

Name ________ Position(s) ________ Location ________ Date ________

1. Your week

Fill in every day. Leave a day blank only if you can work any time that day.

Can't work means you won't be able to come: school, another job, childcare, a standing appointment. Rather not means you can, but you'd prefer not to. Your manager will respect "can't" every time and "rather not" when they can.

2. Hours

3. School (for anyone in school, and everyone under 18)

The school section matters most for minors, because the law limits when they can work. Under federal law, work for 14- and 15-year-olds is limited to "Outside of school hours", "Not more than 18 hours in any 1 week when school is in session", "Not more than 3 hours in any 1 day when school is in session, including Fridays", "Not more than 8 hours in any 1 day when school is not in session" and "Not more than 40 hours in any 1 week when school is not in session", and to "Between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. in any 1 day, except during the summer (June 1 through Labor Day) when the evening hour will be 9 p.m." (29 CFR 570.35(a)). Those federal hours limits are for 14- and 15-year-olds; states add their own, and some limit 16- and 17-year-olds as well. When federal and state rules differ, the stricter one applies.

Our state guides cover each state's rules, for example Florida, California, Texas, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan (coming Oct 18), New Jersey (coming Oct 20), Washington (coming Oct 22) and Colorado (coming Nov 3).

4. Temporary changes

Use this part when your availability changes for a while and then goes back to normal, such as a summer schedule, exams or a semester abroad.

5. Sign-off

Manager's notes: what you can and can't promise, for example "Weekends: every other Saturday, not every Saturday."

A filled-in example

Hypothetical: Maya, 16, a part-time barista in a state with no extra limits for 16-year-olds.

Hours: 12 to 18 a week, at most 3 shifts in a row. School ends June 12; summer availability from June 15: weekdays 7 am – 3 pm.

What the manager agreed: two weekday closes and one Saturday a week during school, no Sunday shifts, and a new form in June for the summer.

How to keep it honest

• Ask for reasons on "can't", not on "rather not". A reason ("second job") helps you plan around it; you don't need one for a preference.
• Push back kindly on availability that isn't. Someone who can't work mornings, evenings or weekends can't really work a café shift. That's a conversation, not a form problem.
• Answer every change in writing. Approve it, approve it from a date, or explain what you can't promise.
• Don't schedule into "can't". It's a call-out waiting to happen. Our call-outs and no-shows guide covers what happens next.

Where Mays fits

• Staff send it from the app. In Schedule → Availability, they tap +, pick Recurring (their normal week) or Temporary (with From and To dates, for a summer or exam schedule), and set each day to Available or Not available, all day or between two times, with a Reason and Comments. See Setting your availability.
• You approve it. With Require manager approval for availability changes on (the default, under Scheduling → Settings → Approvals), each change waits in Approvals, and the old availability stays in effect until you decide. On the web, Scheduling → Availability has the requests, a Glance View of everyone's week and a Reasons list (such as School or Second job) that admins set up. See Reviewing staff availability.
• It shows while you build the schedule. A shift that falls outside someone's availability is marked Unavailable or Outside hours, and it's listed in the warnings before you publish. Mays warns; it never stops you.
• Minors. With Labor law compliance and Minors (under 18) turned on for a location, Mays works out each person's age from their date of birth, reads school days from the school calendar you set, and flags a shift that breaks a federal limit (or a California, Florida, New York or Texas limit) with Minor rule. The auto-scheduler stays inside those limits. See Scheduling minors.

What Mays doesn't do: there's no "rather not" level and no field for the hours a week someone wants. Write those in the person's scheduling note on the schedule (Add a scheduling note, for example max 25 hours, rather not close Thursdays), which the auto-scheduler reads. Staff enter availability in the phone apps, not on the web, so keep the paper form for new hires who haven't installed the app yet.

One page, kept current

Collect the form at hiring, check it every three months and before every school term, and answer every change in writing. Then the schedule starts from what people can actually work.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll set up availability for your team with you.