This section applies to 24/7 operations and employees who stay and/or sleep on university property or while on university business.
Less Than 24-Hour Shift
An employee who is required to be on duty for less than 24 hours is working, even though the employee is permitted to sleep or engage in other personal activities when not busy. An employee who is required to be on duty for specified hours is working even though the employee is permitted to sleep when not busy. It makes no difference that the employee is furnished facilities for sleeping.
24-Hour or More Shift (not residing on premises)
When an employee is required to be on duty for 24 hours or more, the employer and the employee may agree to exclude bona fide meal periods and a bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping period of no more than eight hours from hours worked, provided adequate sleeping facilities are furnished by the employer and the employee can usually enjoy an uninterrupted night’s sleep. If the sleeping period is more than eight hours, only eight hours will be credited.
Where no expressed or implied agreement to the contrary is present, the eight hours of sleeping time and lunch periods constitute hours worked. If an employee’s sleep time is interrupted to perform work and the employee does not get a good night’s rest (defined as a minimum of five hours of sleep), the employer cannot take any sleep time credit and must count all time, including any hours the employee slept, as hours worked. If the employee is required to perform work during sleeping time but is otherwise able to get a good night’s rest (more than five hours of sleep), the employer only needs to pay the employee for the time the employee actually worked.
Residing on Premises or Working at Home
An employee who resides on the employer’s premises on a permanent basis or for extended periods of time is not considered as working all the time the employee is on the premises. The time that is considered as hours worked are those hours when an employee is performing duties for the employer. Ordinarily, the employee may engage in normal private pursuits and thus have enough time for eating, sleeping, entertaining, and other periods of complete freedom from all duties when the employee may leave the premises for purposes of the employee’s own choosing. Employers are not typically required to pay employees for sleeping time if the employee resides on the employer’s premises or works from home.