Basic Overtime Obligation During an Alternative Workweek

On an alternative workweek schedule, you must provide time and one-half the employee’s regular rate of pay for:

• All work performed in any workday in excess of the regularly scheduled hours established by the alternative workweek agreement, up to 12 hours a day
• All work performed beyond 40 hours per week

On an alternative workweek schedule, you must pay double the employee’s regular rate of pay for:

• All work performed in excess of 12 hours per day
• Any work in excess of eight hours on days other than those regularly scheduled by the alternative workweek agreement

There are exceptions to these requirements for makeup time and for occasions when you approve an employee’s request for a substitution of workdays. For more information, see Using Makeup Time. There are also exceptions in the health care industry. For more information, see “Alternative Workweek Schedules and Health Care” in Exceptions to the Alternative Workweek.

Alternative workweek arrangements under Wage Orders 1-3, 6-13 and 16 (and all employees subject to Orders 4-2001 or 5-2001 except those employed in the Health Care Industry) must provide that all work in excess of the schedule established by the agreement and up to 12 hours per day or beyond 40 hours per week is paid at 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay.

All work performed in excess of 12 hours per day and any work in excess of eight hours on those days worked beyond the regularly scheduled number of workdays established by the alternative workweek must be paid at double the employee’s regular rate of pay.

Exception: Substituting Workdays in an Alternative Workweek

• Typically, any work that an employee performs outside of their regular schedule is paid at an overtime rate. However, you can substitute one day of work for another day to meet the employee’s personal needs, without paying overtime for the otherwise unscheduled day.

These substitutions must be on an occasional basis and at the employee’s request. Also, the shift must be the same length.

Example: An employee on an alternative workweek is scheduled for four 10-hour shifts each week, Monday through Thursday. The employee asks to take Monday off and work Friday instead. If you approve the request, there would be no overtime obligation on Friday if the employee worked 10 hours that day.

No Pyramiding of Overtime in an Alternative Workweek

Only hours worked at straight-time apply to the weekly 40-hour limit for overtime. This prevents pyramiding of overtime. After an employee has been paid daily overtime for working more hours than those scheduled in the alternative workweek agreement, those overtime hours do not count toward the weekly 40-hour limit. For more information, see Overtime Examples.

Regularly Scheduled Overtime in an Alternative Workweek

Employees on an alternative workweek schedule may be required to work overtime, even on a regular basis, so long as the proper overtime payments are made. For example, employees who have voted to adopt a 4/10 schedule may be regularly scheduled for 12 hours per day instead of 10 hours per day, so long as two hours of overtime is paid per day.1

Overtime Due for Shortened Shift

If you require an employee to work less than the agreed upon hours in a shift, the employee is entitled to time and one-half for hours in excess of eight and double-time for hours in excess of 12 on that day. This is true only if you require the employee to work fewer hours than scheduled. If the employee asks to leave early, this requirement does not apply.

Example: An employee scheduled for a 10-hour shift is sent home after 9.5 hours because of a mechanical breakdown. The employee is entitled to eight hours at straight-time and 1.5 hours at time and one-half for that day.

Examples of Overtime in an Alternative Workweek

The following examples show overtime situations involving employees working on an alternative workweek schedule. The employee in each example earns $15 per hour.

Overtime Example 1: 4/10 Workweek

The employee is scheduled to work four 10-hour days, Monday through Thursday. On Monday, the employee earns two hours overtime at time and one-half. On Wednesday, the employee works four hours overtime. She is paid time and one-half for the first two overtime hours and double-time for the last two hours. She is paid time and one-half for the first eight hours worked on Friday because it is outside the agreed-upon 4/10 schedule and two hours at double-time because she must be paid the double-time rate for work hours in excess of eight on an unscheduled day in the 4/10 workweek.

Overtime Example 2: 4/10 Schedule with Makeup Time

The employee is scheduled to work four 10-hour workdays, Wednesday through Saturday. However, the employee requests in writing two hours off to attend his son’s birthday party on Saturday. Following the employer’s makeup time policy, he makes up the two hours lost on Sunday. Because he followed the makeup time policy, he is not owed overtime for the week. If he worked the two hours outside the regularly scheduled workweek without following the makeup time requirements, he would have been owed 38 hours at straight-time and two hours at time and one-half.

• You cannot reduce an employee’s regular rate of hourly pay as a result of the adoption, repeal or nullification of an alternative workweek schedule.

1.IWC Statement as to the Basis for Wage Orders 1-2001 to 15-2001 sec. 3