Do You Get Paid for Sleeping on a Long Shift? — In Plain Words

This page is general information only. It is not legal advice.

Short answer

It depends on how long the duty period is.

If you are required to be on duty for less than 24 hours, you are working even though you are permitted to sleep when not busy. That sleep time is work time.

If you are required to be on duty for 24 hours or more, a sleep period of not more than 8 hours can be left out of hours worked only if the employer and the employee agree to that, and only if the other conditions in this page are met. Without that agreement, the sleeping time counts as hours worked.

What this page covers

This page explains, in plain words, the federal rule on sleeping time during a long duty period under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). It covers the federal rule only.

Cross-reference, in plain text only: On-call time and waiting time are covered on a different guide; this page is about sleeping time on a long shift.

On duty for less than 24 hours

An employee who is required to be on duty for less than 24 hours is working even though he is permitted to sleep or engage in other personal activities when not busy.

The regulation gives this example: a telephone operator who is required to be on duty for specified hours is working even though she is permitted to sleep when not busy answering calls.

It makes no difference that she is furnished facilities for sleeping. Her time is given to her employer. She is required to be on duty and the time is worktime.

On duty for 24 hours or more

Where an employee is required to be on duty for 24 hours or more, the employer and the employee may agree to exclude from hours worked:

• bona fide meal periods, and
• a bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping period of not more than 8 hours.

That agreement is allowed only 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 of more than 8 hours, only 8 hours will be credited. In other words, only 8 hours is the most that can be excluded for sleep.

If there is no agreement

Where no expressed or implied agreement to the contrary is present, the 8 hours of sleeping time and lunch periods constitute hours worked.

That sentence is part of the rule itself. The chance to leave sleep time out depends on the agreement. If there is no such agreement, the sleeping time and lunch periods count as hours worked.

Interruptions of sleep

If the sleeping period is interrupted by a call to duty, the interruption must be counted as hours worked.

If the period is interrupted to such an extent that the employee cannot get a reasonable night's sleep, the entire period must be counted as hours worked.

For enforcement purposes, the rule used is this: if the employee cannot get at least 5 hours' sleep during the scheduled period, the entire time is working time.

Stated the other way, as the Department of Labor fact sheet puts it: No reduction is permitted unless at least 5 hours of sleep is taken.

Where the rule comes from

This guide rests on three federal sources, listed in the Sources box below: a Department of Labor fact sheet on hours worked, and the two federal regulations on less-than-24-hour duty and duty of 24 hours or more. It adds nothing from outside those three sources.

This page is general information only. It is not legal advice.