1st, 2nd and 3rd shift hours

Common shift times

No federal law defines the shifts or their hours: the employer sets them. The three shifts always join up, so whatever time first shift starts, third shift ends there and the plant or ward is covered around the clock with three 8-hour crews. A fourth shift, where it exists, is usually a weekend crew or a relief crew that covers the others' days off.

10-hour and 12-hour shifts

With 10-hour shifts the day does not divide evenly, so the shifts overlap. A common police pattern is 6 a.m. – 4 p.m., 2 p.m. – midnight and 9 p.m. – 7 a.m., with the extra officers on the busiest hours of the evening.

With 12-hour shifts the day splits in two: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. and 7 p.m. – 7 a.m. are the most common, or 6 to 6. Hospitals, police and most 24/7 plants on 12-hour rotations call them day shift and night shift rather than first and second. Each crew works about half the days of the year on a Pitman, DuPont or similar rotation.

Graveyard shift hours

Graveyard shift is another name for the third shift, the one that covers the small hours. On 8-hour shifts that is usually 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. or midnight to 8 a.m.; on 12-hour shifts the night shift, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., covers it. A shift that ends at 3 a.m. is a late second shift in most workplaces, not a graveyard shift.

How federal pay rules define evening and night work

Private employers set their own shift definitions, but the federal government's pay rules give a useful benchmark. Federal wage-grade (blue-collar) employees get a night differential of 7.5% when most of their scheduled hours fall between 3 p.m. and midnight, and 10% when most fall between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. (5 U.S.C. 5343(f)). For General Schedule employees, night work is regularly scheduled work between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., paid at 10% extra (5 U.S.C. 5545(a)).

Do you get paid more for 2nd or 3rd shift?

Only if your employer or union contract says so. The Fair Labor Standards Act “does not require extra pay for night work” (U.S. Department of Labor). Many employers still pay a shift differential, either a fixed amount per hour or a percentage. When they do, it becomes part of your regular rate, so your overtime rate goes up with it (29 CFR 778.207(b)). Turn on “Your pay” in the shift calendar to add a night differential to your year.

Night shifts that cross midnight

A third shift starts on one date and ends on the next. For pay, each hour belongs to the workweek in which it is worked, so a shift that runs from Saturday night into Sunday can be split between two workweeks if your workweek starts at midnight on Sunday. In the Crewdays calendar each shift is shown on the day it starts.

Meal breaks count the same way at night as in the day: a bona fide meal period, ordinarily 30 minutes or more with no duties at all, is not work time (29 CFR 785.19). An 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift with an unpaid half hour is 7.5 paid hours. On the night the clocks change, an 8-hour night shift lasts 9 hours in November and 7 in March; see night shift and daylight saving time.

Which shift can teenagers work?

Federal child labor rules keep 14- and 15-year-olds to the hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., or 9 p.m. from June 1 to Labor Day, and outside school hours (29 CFR 570.35). That rules out most second shifts and every third shift. The federal hour limits stop at 16, though many states set their own for 16- and 17-year-olds.

Rotating between the three shifts

Some plants rotate crews through all three: a week of days, a week of evenings and a week of nights. The southern swing is the classic version for four crews: 7 day shifts, 2 off, 7 evenings, 2 off, 7 nights and 3 off, a 28-day cycle. In 2027 one crew works 273 shifts (2,184 hours), a third of them on each shift. Choose “Southern swing” in the shift calendar to see your year, or compare other options on 24/7 shift schedules.

More guides

• 4-5-5 shift pattern
• 5-5-4 schedule
• 3-4-4-3 schedule
• 12-hour schedule with 3 crews
• Southern swing schedule
• 8-hour schedule, every other weekend off
• All guides

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