GAP 101.521, Time Reports - Night Shift Premium

Contents

1. General
2. Procedures

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I. General

Night shift premium payments are made to compensate employees for working on second or third shift.

Qualifications for night shift premium hours and payment for an employee are:

• Employees who work on a second (a shift that begins at 2:30 p.m. or later) are paid night shift premium for all hours worked on that scheduled shift only. Night shift premium is paid at 7% times the employee’s hourly rate of pay times each hour worked on the normal scheduled hours of the second shift.*
• Employees who work on the third shift (a shift that begins at 10:30 p.m. or later and ends by 8:30 a.m.) are paid night shift premium for all hours worked on that scheduled shift only. Night shift premium is paid at 12% times the employee’s hourly rate of pay times each hour worked on the normal scheduled hours of the third shift.*
• Night shift premium is paid only for normal scheduled hours on second or third shift. Such night shift premium shall not be paid to employees who work during the hours designated above as a result of extended hours beyond their regular workday. Often, hours worked beyond the normal work shift will qualify for overtime premium.*

* Certain approved areas pay night shift premium:

• At a set amount per hour or for 2nd or 3rd shifts;
• At different percentages based on contractual union agreements; or,
• By special calculations established for certain positions involved in patient care, primarily at Duke Hospital, Duke Regional and Duke Raleigh Hospital

II. Procedures

A. Standard Calculation

The payroll system will calculate the standard night shift premium (7% for second shift or 12% for third shift) for an employee based on the hours reported on the time report for the shift. The shift code reported for the hours worked each day on the primary time report will determine the calculation to the shift premium. Shift premium will be calculated on the hours worked, but cannot exceed the hours indicated on the employee’s Hire Form or most recent Staff Change Form as the normal shift hours for a day.

Departments should advise each employee of the shift code to be used in reporting the hours worked because shift code “2” (second shift) or code “3” (third shift) will cause the automatic calculation and payment of shift premium to most employees. An employee scheduled to work the first shift and working 12 hours which extends into the second shift should report all hours on first shift (i.e., employees should report all hours worked on the shift they were scheduled to work.)

Employees excluded from the night shift premium calculation will be employees for whom:

• Special shift premium reports (yellow) have been entered for the pay period which override any night shift premium calculations. (see section B)
• A contractual union agreement has established different percentage rates for second and third shift premiums other than those indicated in Section I.

In the above example, assume that the employee’s normal shift hours are 8, and overtime option is on the basis of the excess of the hours worked over 8 in a day or 40 in a week. In the first week, second shift premium would be calculated at 7% or the hourly rate times the first 40 hours worked in the week, which are the employee’s normal scheduled hours worked. In the second week, third shift premium would be calculated at 12% of the hourly rate times 35 hours worked, which are the employee’s normal shift scheduled hours worked. Time off with pay hours do not qualify for night shift premium.

In the above example, assume an employee worked 3:00 p.m. through 12:00 midnight. Here, all hours qualify for night shift premium payment for second shift work, except 4 hours on Monday of the second week. These hours were not part of the regular second shift, so no night shift premium payment is given, even though the employee did work into the third shift. These 4 hours qualify for overtime premium payment in this situation.

B. Special shift premium report (yellow)

The special shift premium report (yellow) permits entering amounts of shift premiums due an employee by shift and by week, only if amounts due by policy are different either from the standard calculations described in Section A, percentages specified in contractual union agreements, or the special calculation applicable to certain patient care positions described in section C.

It is important to note that any amount entered on the special shift premium report will override entirely the automated standard or special calculations of shift premiums for the pay period.

When the special shift premium report is used, it is essential that the total amount of shift premiums due for both weeks be entered on the report and identified by sights (s) because the automated system will not calculate only a part of the premium due for a week or for both weeks.

In processing a special shift premium report, the following information should be typed on the heading:

• Social security number
• Name (Last name, first)
• Org. Assignment
• Appropriate pay period

Calculate and enter the appropriate amounts, according to policy, by shifts and by weeks and the total for each week.

The report should be signed by a person authorized to sign time reports and submitted with the completed primary time report for the pay period. The authorized signature certifies that the employee is entitled, according to policy, to the special shift premium recorded for the period indicated, that the signer has first hand knowledge of all work performed, and that the distribution codes on the employee’s primary time report represent a reasonable estimate of the actual effort expended and are appropriate for distributing the cost of the compensation.

C. Calculate special shift premium payments

The automated system will calculate special shift premium payments for employees holding certain positions, which are involved in patient care and for whom special circumstances of their work schedules warrant these special calculations.

The position titles and position codes receiving special shift premium calculations are:

The payroll system also calculates special shift premium payments for employees whose positions are in a bargaining unit covered by a contractual union agreement which stipulates shift premium percentages that differ from the standard.