Human Resources: Flexible Work and Sustainability

Compressed Work Week

There are a variety of work schedules in place at SU, but the most common involve full time (exempt or non-exempt) employees with 40 or 37.5 standard hours per week. For part time, benefits eligible employees standard hours per week can vary from 20 up to 37.5.

The easiest way to expand the daily work hours for a compressed schedule is to add hours to the normal workday. Keep in mind that an employee paid for 40 hours (8 hours per day) of work five days a week is actually scheduled for 42.5 hours (8.5 hours per day), due to New York State labor law requiring an unpaid meal period of at least 30 minutes be provided daily. A paid work week of 37.5 hours is 40 hours scheduled time.

A consistent schedule should be established for each employee. To avoid complications during pay periods that include holidays, days off for each employee should not fluctuate from week to week. Although there is no legal mandate, Human Resources recommends that two of the days off be consecutive.

Compressed Work Week Example

Day	40 Standard Hours	37.5 Standard Hours	40 Standard Hours	37.5 Standard Hours
	Regular 5-Day Work Week (Paid Hours)		Compressed Schedule 4-Day Work Week (Paid Hours)
1	8	7.5	10	9.5
2	8	7.5	10	9.5
3	8	7.5	10	9.5
4	8	7.5	10	9
5	8	7.5	Off	Off
6	Off	Off	Off	Off
7	Off	Off	Off	Off
Total	40	37.5	40	37.5

Expanded Work Hours Examples
6:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	10.5 hours
7:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.	10.5 hours
7:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.	10.5 hours
8:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.	10.5 hours
8:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.	10.5 hours

New York State Labor Law Requirements

All employees who work a shift of more than 6 hours, which extends over the noonday meal period, must be given at least 30 minutes between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. for the meal period. Employees are not to be allowed to "skip" their lunch and deduct that time from their workday hours. They can, however, reduce their lunch to 30 minutes if they are currently taking more than 30 minutes.
All employees who begin work before 11 a.m. and work past 7 p.m. are entitled to an additional meal period of at least 20 minutes (unpaid) between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Employees should be made aware of this requirement if they wish their standard work hours to extend past 7 p.m., and their work day should be extended by the extra 20 minutes accordingly.
All employees who work a shift of more than 6 hours that begins between the hours of 1 p.m. and 6 a.m. must be allowed at least 45 minutes for a meal period at a time midway between the beginning and end of their shift.

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