Baylor shift: the weekend nursing schedule
A Baylor shift, or Baylor plan, is a weekend-only schedule: usually two 12-hour shifts, Saturday and Sunday, often days or nights. Hospitals that offer it pay a premium for the weekend, either a higher hourly rate or more hours of pay than you work. The exact terms change from one hospital to the next.
By Asier Fernández ·
How a Baylor schedule works
- Cycle
- 7 days
- Shift length
- 12 hours
- Hours a week
- 24
- Hours a year
- 1,251
- Most shifts in a row
- 2
- Longest break
- 5 days
Two 12-hour shifts every weekend is 24 hours a week and about 1,251 hours a year (104 shifts in 2027). Your weekdays are always free, but you never get a weekend off unless you take leave or trade.
Hospitals use it to fill weekends, the hardest shifts to staff, so the Monday-to-Friday nurses can have most weekends off. Some versions use two 16-hour shifts or three 12-hour shifts from Friday night to Sunday night.
Baylor pay: what to ask
There is no legal definition of a Baylor shift, so ask the hospital to put these points in writing:
- The pay basis. A higher weekend rate for the hours you work, or pay for more hours than you work (for example 24 hours worked paid as 36). Both are common.
- Benefits. Whether the hospital treats you as full time for health insurance, paid time off and retirement, and how PTO accrues: per hour worked or per hour paid.
- Missed weekends. What happens if you are sick or take leave: many contracts require you to make up a missed weekend.
- Holidays. Whether you also work holidays that fall on a weekday.
Overtime on a Baylor schedule
Federal overtime is due for hours over 40 in a workweek (29 CFR 778.107), so 24 hours a weekend creates no overtime on its own. If you pick up extra shifts, overtime starts after 40 hours worked in the workweek. Hospitals may instead use the 8/80 system, agreed with staff in advance: overtime after 8 hours in a workday and after 80 hours in 14 days (29 CFR 778.601). Under 8/80, every 12-hour shift carries 4 hours of overtime, so ask which system applies to the Baylor post. Weekend premiums of at least time and a half paid for weekend work can count as overtime premium under 29 CFR 778.203.
Is a Baylor shift right for you?
It suits students, parents who share childcare with a weekday partner and nurses who want weekdays free for a second job. The cost is the weekends: about 104 weekend days a year at work. To plan around it, add your weekend shifts to the shift calendar with “Build your own” and the cycle OOOOODD (start it on a Monday). For other nursing patterns see nurse shift schedules.
More guides
Figures are worked out from each cycle; rules checked against official sources on . How we calculate
Questions
What does a Baylor shift mean?
A weekend-only schedule, usually two 12-hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday, paid at a premium. It is also called the Baylor plan.
Is a Baylor shift considered full time?
It depends on the hospital. Many treat Baylor nurses as full time for benefits even though they work 24 hours a week; get it in writing.
How many hours a year is a Baylor shift?
About 1,251 hours: 24 hours a week. In 2027 a Saturday-and-Sunday schedule has 104 shifts.
Is a Baylor shift worth it?
It pays a weekend premium and leaves weekdays free, but you work almost every weekend. Compare the hourly equivalent, benefits and what happens if you miss a weekend.
Do Baylor nurses get overtime?
Not for the 24 weekend hours under the 40-hour rule. If the hospital uses the 8/80 system, hours over 8 in a day are overtime.