Some employees, particularly those employed in community living centers, group homes, and halfway houses for the physically or developmentally disabled, reside on their employer’s premises on less than a permanent basis. For the following sleep time policies to apply, the community living center or other similar facility must have one or more full-time employees who either reside on the premises permanently or for extended periods of time.

If you are a full-time employee who resides on your employer’s premises for an extended period of time, your employer may deduct up to 8 hours of sleep time per 24-hour period under the following conditions:

1. You and your employer have an agreement, prior to the performance of the work that permits the deduction from hours worked of up to 8 hours of sleep time, bona fide meal periods, and/or scheduled free time when the you are completely relieved from duty.
2. You reside on your employer’s premises for an extended period of time, which is defined as:
• residing on the premises at least 120 hours per week, or
• 5 consecutive days or nights.
3. You sleep on your employer’s premises for all sleep periods between the beginning and end of the 120 hour period or during the 5 consecutive days or nights.
4. You must be compensated for at least 8 hours in each of the 5 consecutive 24-hour periods.
5. You are provided with private quarters in a homelike environment.
• Private quarters means living quarters that are furnished, separate from the clients and from other staff members and have at a minimum the same furnishings available to clients (e.g., bed, table, lamp, chair, dresser, closet, etc.) in which the employee is able to leave his or her belongings during on- and off-duty periods.
• Homelike environment means facilities including private quarters and including on the same premises facilities for cooking and eating; for bathing in private; and for recreation. The amenities and quarters must be suitable for long-term residence by individuals rather than those found in institutional facilities such as dormitories.

If you are a part-time relief employee, you may also have a maximum of 8 hours of sleep time deducted from each 24-hour period under the following conditions:

1. You and your employer have an agreement, prior to the performance of the work that permits the deduction from hours worked of up to 8 hours of sleep time, bona fide meal periods, and/or scheduled free time when you are completely relieved from duty.
2. You, as the relief employee, are substituting for a full-time employee. In other words, you work in the place of a full-time employee to provide that full-time employee with a respite from his or her duty.
3. You reside on your employer’s premises for 1 – 3 nights.
4. You must sleep on your employer’s premises during each night of the relief period.
5. You and the full-time employee you are relieving may not be on duty at the same time for more than 1 hour per day.
6. You must be compensated for at least 8 hours in each 24-hour period on duty.
7. You must be furnished with private quarters in a homelike environment (as defined above).

To deduct sleep time from either the full-time or part-time employee, the employee must be able to get at least 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night and must be paid for all interruptions to his or her sleep.

Questions? Contact an overtime lawyer at Werman Law Office, P.C.