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In short: Since August 1, 2025, TLC rule 35 RCNY §59D-22(c) limits when Uber, Lyft and other high-volume apps can stop you from taking trips. The app must give you at least 72 hours' notice before it blocks you for a calendar day. Once you go online, it must let you stay available for at least 16 hours, and that 16-hour period starts over after 8 hours offline. There are three exceptions, and a company that breaks the rule faces a $500 fine for each failure.
This page explains the rule line by line, with worked examples, so you can tell whether a lockout you had was allowed. A lockout is not the same as being deactivated (removed from the app). If your account was closed, see deactivated by Uber or Lyft: what to do instead.
What the rule says, in plain words
TLC adopted the rule on June 25, 2025, as part of a larger driver pay rule package, and it took effect on August 1, 2025 (NYC Rules). The rule has three parts. You can read the full text in the current Chapter 59 rule book.
| Part | What the rule text says | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| (c)(1) Notice | The company "must provide at least 72 hours' notice" to a driver who could otherwise go online "on a calendar day" if it "will restrict that Driver's ability to accept dispatches on that calendar day." | If the app plans to block you for a day, it has to tell you at least three days ahead. |
| (c)(2) Access | The company "must allow any Driver who has made themselves available … to continue to be available … for at least 16 hours following their initial availability." | Once you are online, the app can't push you off for 16 hours. |
| (c)(2) Reset | "If a Driver has not been available to accept dispatches for at least eight consecutive hours, the 16-hour access period restarts." | After 8 hours or more offline, you get a fresh 16 hours. |
| (c)(3) Exceptions | No 72-hour notice is needed "for lack of licensing credentials, violation of TLC rules, and violation of the High-Volume For-Hire Service's rules and policies including misconduct and excessive cancellation or non-acceptance of dispatches." | The rule does not protect you if your documents lapse, you break a TLC rule, or you break the app's own policies. |
The 72-hour notice rule
The notice rule is about calendar days. If the company knows it will not let you take trips on a certain day, it must tell you at least 72 hours before. TLC says the goal is that drivers have "reasonable expectations of when they will be able to access the applications and thus reasonable expectations of their working hours and incomes" (TLC statement of basis). TLC compared it to the city's 72-hour scheduling rule for retail workers.
Example: You get a message on Monday at 9:00 a.m. saying you can't log in on Tuesday. That is less than 72 hours' notice for Tuesday. Unless one of the three exceptions applies, this looks like a possible violation. If the same message said you can't log in on Friday, it gave more than 72 hours, so the notice part was met.
The rule does not say exactly how the notice must be sent (in-app, email or text). Keep whatever message you got, with the time it arrived.
The 16-hour access rule and the 8-hour reset
The 16-hour rule targets what TLC calls "mid-shift lockouts": drivers who were online and doing trips and then got logged off without warning. TLC wrote that these lockouts were "boosting utilization rates but lowering driver hourly pay." TLC also explained why it picked 16 hours: many drivers work a morning rush, take a long break, then work the evening rush.
The clock runs from your first time online, not from your last trip. Breaks shorter than 8 hours do not restart it. Here is how the rule reads in three common days (TLC has not published its own examples, so treat these as our reading of the text):
The fatigue limit still applies
The 16-hour rule does not let you drive 16 hours straight. TLC's driver fatigue rules (§80-14(f)) still apply. In the rule package, TLC described them as limiting "drivers' trip-hours to 12 hours every 24 hours without a break of eight consecutive hours and 60 hours weekly," and said an app may limit your access to keep you within those limits. That is not a lockout violation.
The three exceptions
The app can restrict you without 72 hours' notice in three situations:
- Lack of licensing credentials. For example, your TLC license is suspended or expired, or a required document lapsed. See will the apps cut me off if TLC suspends me.
- Violation of TLC rules.
- Violation of the company's own rules and policies, which the rule says includes "misconduct and excessive cancellation or non-acceptance of dispatches." The rule does not define "excessive"; the company's policy does. See can too many cancellations get me locked out.
Because the third exception is broad, a company may say almost any restriction was a policy matter. That is why your own records matter. If the app gave no reason, or a reason that does not fit any exception, write that down.
Check your own lockout
Why TLC made this rule
TLC's rule package says the app companies "have instituted these driver restrictions at least twice, in 2019 and in 2024." TLC said restricting log-ins let companies raise their "utilization rate" (the share of time drivers spend with passengers), which affects how the minimum pay formula works. TLC also warned of a "race to the bottom": if one company locks drivers out, they flood the other app, and that company may do the same.
TLC's License Pause Report (February 2026) says lockouts "significantly reduced drivers' earning potential, with some drivers reporting a loss of nearly half their income" (report). TLC also said it is collecting more detailed lockout data from the companies to check compliance.
How lockouts affect your pay
A lockout costs you the hours you planned to work. You can estimate what a typical trip should pay you under the minimum pay rule with the estimator below, and compare it with your pay by hour of day and the busiest hours for app trips.
How to document a lockout
You will need proof of times. Do this the same day:
How to report it
TLC has not published a separate lockout complaint form. The rule is part of TLC's driver pay rules, and TLC's driver pay page says drivers can email DriverProtection@tlc.nyc.gov and that TLC "will investigate and prosecute driver complaints." TLC's driver resources page lists the Driver Protection Unit's phone as (718) 391-5539.
In your email, include your name, TLC license number, the app, the dates and times, and your screenshots. Keep it short and factual. A fine, if TLC brings a case, is charged to the company; the rule itself does not say a driver gets paid for the lost hours.
Lockout or deactivation?
A lockout limits when you can work. A deactivation closes your account. The TLC lockout rule is not an appeal process for deactivations. NYC's deactivation law, Local Law 52 of 2026, would treat a restriction of 72 hours or more in a row (or 168 hours in total in a year) as a deactivation, but a federal court blocked that law in July 2026. Read the short answer in is a lockout the same as a deactivation.
Frequently asked questions
Can Uber or Lyft lock me out in the middle of a shift in NYC?
Not without a reason the rule allows. Under TLC rule 59D-22(c)(2), once you make yourself available, the company must let you stay available for at least 16 hours. The exceptions are missing licensing credentials, a TLC rule violation, or a violation of the company's own rules and policies, including misconduct and excessive cancellation or non-acceptance of trips.
When does the 16-hour clock start again?
The rule says that if you have not been available to accept dispatches for at least eight consecutive hours, the 16-hour access period restarts. A shorter break, such as a three-hour lunch, does not restart it.
What is the fine if the app breaks the lockout rule?
The rule sets a $500 fine on the company for each failure to give notice or to allow access, and the company must appear at the hearing. The fine is paid by the company, not the driver.
Where do I report a lockout that broke the rule?
TLC has not published a separate lockout complaint form. The rule is part of TLC's driver pay rules, and TLC's driver pay page says drivers can email DriverProtection@tlc.nyc.gov. TLC's driver resources page lists (718) 391-5539 for the Driver Protection Unit.
Does the lockout rule apply to yellow taxis?
No. Section 59D-22(c) applies to High-Volume For-Hire Services, the app companies such as Uber and Lyft that TLC licenses as high-volume bases. It does not cover taxi e-hail apps or other bases.
Sources
Last reviewed against the official sources on .
- TLC adopted rule: HV driver pay and driver access (35 RCNY 59D-22(c)), adopted June 25, 2025 rules.cityofnewyork.us
- NYC Rules: Driver Pay (High-Volume For-Hire Vehicles), effective August 1, 2025 rules.cityofnewyork.us
- TLC Rule Book, Chapter 59 (current) nyc.gov
- TLC: Driver Pay for Drivers nyc.gov
- TLC: Driver Resources (Driver Protection Unit phone) nyc.gov
- TLC License Pause Report (February 2026) nyc.gov
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TLC Help is not a law firm and is not affiliated with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission or OATH. Explanations on this site are general information, not legal advice. Legal representation is provided by independent attorneys and OATH-registered representatives in our network.