GAP 101.51, Time Reports - Weekdays/Workweeks

I. General

In the Duke University Personnel Policy Manual, the workday is defined as a 24 hour period beginning at 12:01 a.m. and ending at midnight the following day. The workweek is defined as a period of seven consecutive workdays, beginning 12:01 a.m. Monday and ending at midnight the following Sunday. For Hospital Health System employees who are paid overtime for hours worked over 8 hours in a day or 80 hours in a 14-day period, the workweek is defined as a work period beginning at 12:01 a.m. Monday, continuing 14 consecutive workdays, and ending at 12:00 midnight the second Sunday night.

For employees regularly working first or second shifts, the HR/Payroll System–SAP  will determine overtime hours based on the hours reported on the time report and the overtime option applicable to the employee’s position. In rare instances, employees working a shift that crosses over at Midnight from one workday to another may require an override record from the department.  This is necessary in the event the continuous shift crosses multiple days. In these instances, the Department Payroll Representative will need to submit paper time reports to ensure the appropriate overtime payment.

II. Special Situations

On time reports, time worked and time away from work with pay are reported on the workday that the shift begins in order to avoid having to split the hours across two days; however, this creates two areas of time reporting requiring special procedures. Departments must follow these procedures outlined below to ensure compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirements.

A. Employees working a shift which crosses workdays

This situation applies to employees paid overtime for hours over 8 per day, if both of the following conditions occur:

• An employee's work period crosses workdays at Midnight,
• The employee starts to work within 24 hours of the beginning of the last work period (usually caused by rotating shifts).   

When this situation occurs, the department must submit an override record to ensure proper time reporting.

To ensure this payment, Department Payroll Representative should take the following action:

• Review time reports to determine the overtime hours that will be recognized by SAP.
• Calculate the actual hours worked on each day of the pay period (12:01 am – midnight) and determine how many hours of overtime occurred on each day. 
• If the overtime hours for the actual workday are greater than those recognized on the time report, the Department Payroll Representative should submit a Special Overtime Hours paper time report listing the difference in the number of overtime hours. The Special Overtime Hours report will add these additional overtime hours to those determined by the payroll system.

B. Employees working a shift which crosses workweeks

The first line reflects the hours worked by the employee. The problem occurred when the employee worked a shift starting on Sunday night of the previous workweek, worked into the current workweek, and did not work the same shift on Sunday night at the end of the workweek.

The second line reflects how the time would be reported on the time report. The payroll system would calculate 2 overtime hours (Saturday) using the 8 hours/day rule and 6 overtime hours using the 40 hours/workweek rule, and thus would recognize 6 hours as overtime hours.

The third line reflects how the time would be shown if it were reported as it actually occurred on a workday. The hours worked on each shift are split between the workdays at midnight. The overtime hours are 13 per this method.

In this example, the payroll system generated 6 overtime hours.  The override record should reflect a total payment of 13 overtime hours. The difference of 7 hours must be reported on the Special Overtime Hours report as additional overtime hours for the pay period.