370.550.2 - Night Work
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Date: 11/17/1989
OPR: Administration/Office of Personnel
1. Night Pay For Employees Under Pay Plans GS, GG, and FC.
A. Eligibility Requirements. A full-time or part-time employee who performs work at night is entitled to pay for work at their rate of basic pay plus premium pay amounting to 10% of that basic rate provided:
(1) Night work has been scheduled as part of the employee's regularly scheduled administrative workweek, has been duly authorized (see SM 370.610.1) in advance, and has been scheduled to recur on successive days or after specified intervals.
(2) The regular tour of night duty falls between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time. However, for posts outside the continental United States, the office chief may designate any time after 6 p.m. or before 6 a.m. as the beginning or end of night work where according to the local custom the hours of business extend beyond 6 p.m.
(3) The minimum period of night work is 15 minutes and is payable in multiples of 15 minutes.
(4) The employee's rate of basic compensation does not exceed the maximum scheduled rate of grade GS-15, or payment of the differential does not cause the aggregate rate of compensation to exceed such maximum rate in any pay period.
B. Special Conditions.
(1) An employee is entitled to night pay differential when the employee is temporarily assigned during the administrative workweek to a daily tour of duty that includes night work.
(2) Night differential is paid for holidays occurring within a regularly scheduled night tour of duty.
(3) Night differential is continued during periods of leave with pay when the leave totals less than 8 hours for the pay period. However, night differential cannot be paid for any period of leave when the aggregate of paid leave taken during a pay period is 8 or more hours (36 Comp. Gen. 734).
(4) Employees entitled to night differential pay shall continue to receive such pay while absent on court leave or military leave.
(5) Night differential is not regarded as part of the employee's basic compensation.
(6) Changeovers in Clock Time. Action will be taken as follows for an employee whose regularly scheduled tour of duty includes the hour of 2 a.m. on the designated morning of changeover:
(a) From Standard to Daylight Time. Except as indicated below, the employee shall be charged 1 hour of annual leave for the last hour of their tour of duty on the designated morning of changeover.
(i) If the employee has no annual leave available, 1 hour of annual leave will be advanced.
(ii) If the aggregate of annual leave used for the pay period, including this 1 hour charged, is equal to or greater than 8 hours during the pay period, the night differential compensation will be reduced accordingly.
(iii) If an intermittent employee is temporarily assigned to a regularly scheduled night tour of duty, the employee will be paid for 7 hours only on the morning of the changeover.
(b) From Daylight to Standard Time. The employee will be credited with 1 hour of overtime for the last hour of their tour of duty.
2. Night Pay For Wage System Employees.
A. Shifts For Which Night Differentials Are Payable.
(1) A differential of 7% is paid for the entire shift when a majority of the employee's regularly scheduled non-overtime hours of work fall between the hours of 3 p.m. and midnight. (See SM 370.610.1 for advance approval requirement of a night tour of duty.)
(2) A differential of 10% is paid for the entire shift when a majority of the employee's regularly scheduled non-overtime hours of work fall between the hours of 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. (See SM 370.610.1 for advance approval requirements of a night tour of duty.)
(3) The Comptroller General (53 C.G. 814) has interpreted "majority of hours" as being whole hours greater than one-half of the regularly scheduled night shift (for an 8-hour shift this is 5 or more hours). Meal breaks of 1 hour or less that occur within a night tour of duty are included in determining the majority of hours within the two different shifts given above. A full-time employee who works less than 5 hours between 3 p.m. and 8 a.m. is not eligible to receive night shift differential.
B. Special Conditions.
(1) The night rate constitutes the employee's basic compensation. Payroll deductions for retirement and insurance coverage are based upon the employee's aggregate compensation paid for their regularly scheduled tour of duty each pay period. However, insurance deductions for an employee who intermittently works on day and night shifts but whose tour of duty cannot be accurately projected during a year, are based upon the day or night annual rate of compensation in effect at the end of each pay period (36 Comp. Gen. 482).
(2) The night rate is payable for leave taken during a night tour of duty. However, the compensation of an employee working regularly on rotating day and night shifts is the rate of the shift to which the employee would have been assigned had they not taken leave (26 Comp. Gen. 212).
(3) An employee entitled to night pay shall continue to receive such pay while absent on court leave or military leave.
(4) Changeovers in Clock Time. Paragraph 1B(6) also applies to wage system employees with the exception that they are paid the night differential for all hours of leave.
(5) Night shift differential is not applicable to maritime wage system employees.