Shift Scheduling Dilemma: How Much Overtime Should Be Worked in a Shorter Shift?

Dear All,

In the case of a manufacturing company, it has 3 shifts, out of which two shifts are of 8 hours and one shift is of 7 hours. Suppose an employee working an 8-hour shift must stay overtime in a 7-hour shift. How many hours of overtime should an employee work? Please give your opinion.

Regards,
XYZ

An employee in a roster of an 8-hour shift is asked to continue into the next shift of 7 hours, right? Then obviously, they should get overtime wages for 7 hours only.

But if an employee in a 7-hour shift is asked to stay for even one hour beyond the 7 hours, they should be paid overtime for that one hour exceeding 7 hours. Here, the rule that overtime only applies when an employee works over 8 hours or 48 hours in a week will not be relevant. It should be based on the normal shift hours in this case.

In this case, the organization has 3 shifts, of which two are 8-hour shifts and one is a 7-hour shift. Therefore, out of the 24 hours in a day, 8+8+7 = 23 hours are engaged for shifts, leaving one hour free.

In my first employment at Guest Keen Williams (GKW, MNC), the shift was from 5 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., including a spread over (8 hours of working hours and a 0.5-hour interval for rest). The second shift was from 1:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., another 8-hour working hours with a 0.5-hour interval of rest. The night shift was from 10 p.m. to the next day at 5 a.m., with 6.5 hours of working hours and a 0.5-hour interval of rest.

Therefore, in any 3-shift operation where the employer is interested in engaging people for 2 shifts with 8 hours of working hours and 8.5 hours spread over, then automatically, the night shift will have 6.5 hours of working hours and 7 hours spread over.

Now, working for an 8-hour shift, if the employee is engaged for the night shift as overtime, it will be 6.5 hours of overtime at double the rate, i.e., 6.5 x 2 = 13 hours of payment, provided the employee is present for the whole week. In another case, the 9th hour will be a single hour, and 5.5 hours at double the rate, i.e., 5.5 x 2 + 1 = 12 hours of payment.

Regards, S K Bandyopadhyay (WB, Howrah) CEO-USD HR Solutions [Phone Number Removed For Privacy-Reasons] [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons] www.usdhrs.in