The U.S. Department of Labor offers clarification on Single Shift Differential and Attendance Bonus through its Fact Sheet #54, which provides guidance regarding common FLSA violations found by the Wage and Hour Division during investigations in the health care industry relating to the calculation of overtime pay.

■ Single Shift Differential. A personal care assistant at an assisted living facility is paid $8 an hour and overtime on the basis of the 40-hour workweek system. She works three eight-hour day shifts at $8 an hour and three eight-hour evening shifts. The assistant is paid a $1 shift differential for each hour worked on the evening shift. How much should she be paid for her eight hours of overtime?

The additional half-time must be computed based on the regular rate of pay. The regular rate is defined as the total remuneration divided by the total hours worked. The assistant earned a total of $408 for the 48 hours that she worked ($8 an hour times 24 hours plus $9 an hour times 24 hours). Her regular rate equaled $8.50, and her half-time premium is $4.25. Her total earnings for the eight hours of overtime are $102.”

■ Attendance Bonus. An intermediate care facility for people with developmental/intellectual disabilities pays its employees on a biweekly basis. If employees work all the hours that they are scheduled to work in a pay period, they are given a $100 bonus. If an employee works overtime, must this bonus be included in their regular rate of pay for overtime purposes?

Yes. In computing an employee’s regular rate under the 40-hour overtime system, the employer must add half of the biweekly bonus ($50) to the employee’s earnings (hourly rate times the total hours worked) for that week.

The resulting total compensation would be divided by the total hours the employee worked during that week to determine the regular rate.”

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, “Fact Sheet #54—The Health Care Industry and Calculating Overtime Pay.”