9/80 work schedule: how it works and how to avoid overtime

A 9/80 work schedule lets full-time employees fit 80 hours into nine workdays instead of ten, so they get one extra day off every two weeks. It is one of the most popular kinds of compressed work week, especially for offices, engineering teams, utilities and government agencies. It sounds simple, and for employees it is. For employers, the catch is overtime: the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) counts hours by fixed workweek, not by pay period, and a 9/80 set up on an ordinary Sunday-to-Saturday week creates a 44-hour week followed by a 36-hour week. This guide shows how to set the workweek correctly, what changes in California and other daily overtime states, and how to handle holidays and PTO.

What is a 9/80 work schedule?

Over each two-week cycle, an employee on a 9/80 works:

• Eight 9-hour days: Monday through Thursday in both weeks, 72 hours.
• One 8-hour day: the first Friday, 8 hours.
• One day off: the second Friday. That is the “9/80 Friday” employees plan their lives around.

72 + 8 = 80 hours, the same as two standard 40-hour weeks. A typical 9-hour day runs 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with a 30-minute unpaid lunch, and the 8-hour Friday runs 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with lunch from noon to 12:30 p.m. The day off doesn’t have to be Friday. Some employers use Mondays, and many split the team so half is off on one Friday and half on the next, which keeps the office open every weekday.

The federal government uses the same pattern. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management calls it a 5-4/9 schedule: 80 hours across nine workdays in a biweekly pay period, with 9-hour days Monday through Thursday, 8 hours on one Friday and the other Friday off.

The overtime trap: where the workweek starts

Under the FLSA, non-exempt employees are owed time and a half for every hour over 40 in a workweek. Each workweek stands alone, and hours can’t be averaged across the two weeks of a pay period. Our guide on how to calculate overtime covers the full method.

The Department of Labor’s regulation at 29 CFR 778.105 defines the workweek as “a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours,” seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It can begin on any day and at any hour. Once it is set, it stays fixed regardless of the hours worked, and it can be changed only if the change is meant to be permanent and is not designed to evade overtime.

That flexibility is what makes a 9/80 work. In Opinion Letter FLSA2004-18NA, the Wage and Hour Division said a 9/80 workweek “would have to begin at a point somewhere during a workday so that no more than 40 hours are worked in each workweek.” In FLSA2009-16, it approved a 9/80 where the workweek began at 11:31 a.m. or 12:31 p.m. on Friday and Friday time was recorded in two columns, one for each workweek.

Here is the same two-week cycle counted both ways. The 8-hour Friday is split at noon: 4 hours in the morning, 4 in the afternoon.

Workweek A started at noon on the previous Friday, which was a day off, so it holds 36 hours Monday through Thursday plus 4 Friday-morning hours. Workweek B picks up the 4 Friday-afternoon hours, 36 hours the next Monday through Thursday, and nothing on the day off.

What the mistake costs. Take an illustrative non-exempt employee at $24.00 an hour. On a Sunday-to-Saturday workweek, week 1 is 40 × $24.00 = $960.00 plus 4 × $36.00 = $144.00, or $1,104.00. Week 2 is 36 × $24.00 = $864.00. The pay period totals $1,968.00 instead of $1,920.00, an extra $48.00 every two weeks, or $1,248.00 a year across 26 pay periods, for each employee. Missing that overtime is worse: it is a back-pay claim.

A few practical points:

• Split where the hours split. If the 8-hour day starts at 7:00 a.m., the boundary moves to 11:00 a.m. The goal is 4 hours of the 8-hour day on each side.
• Plan the switch. Moving from a Sunday-to-Saturday workweek to a Friday-noon workweek is allowed if it is permanent. The week of the change needs care; 29 CFR 778.301 and 778.302 explain how to count overtime while the start time changes.
• Pay period vs workweek. They don’t have to match. Under 29 CFR 778.106, overtime is generally paid on the regular payday for the period in which the workweek ends, so payroll needs to know which workweek each Friday hour belongs to.
• Extra hours are still overtime. The split only prevents overtime on scheduled hours. A non-exempt employee who stays late on Thursday or works the day off goes over 40 in that workweek.

California and other states with daily overtime

The FLSA has no daily overtime rule, but a few states do, and a 9-hour day can trigger it.

• California: overtime is owed after 8 hours in a workday unless the employer has adopted an alternative workweek schedule (AWS). Under the California Department of Industrial Relations’ wage orders, an AWS can schedule up to 10 hours a day within a 40-hour week, so a 9/80 qualifies, but only if at least two-thirds of the affected work unit approve it in a secret ballot election held before the schedule starts. The employer must give written disclosure of the effect on wages, hours and benefits, hold a meeting at least 14 days before the vote and report the results to the state’s Division of Labor Statistics and Research. Hours beyond the regular schedule still earn overtime, up to 12 hours at time and a half and over 12 at double time. Without a valid election, the ninth hour of every 9-hour day is daily overtime. Our California overtime law guide covers the election steps.
• Alaska and Nevada: both have daily overtime after 8 hours, with exceptions. In Nevada it applies only to employees paid less than 1.5 times the state minimum wage, and the statute’s scheduling exception is written for four 10-hour days by mutual agreement. Alaska allows voluntary flexible work hour plans approved by its Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Check with each state’s labor agency before you schedule 9-hour days there.
• Colorado: overtime after 12 hours in a workday or 12 consecutive hours, as well as after 40 in a week. A 9-hour day doesn’t reach the daily trigger, so the workweek split is the main issue.

Employer groups such as CalChamber describe the same midday Friday split for California 9/80s. California also counts its workweek as seven consecutive days, so confirm your start time and election paperwork with the Labor Commissioner’s office or an employment attorney before the first cycle.

Holidays and PTO on a 9/80

Federal law doesn’t require paid holidays or PTO, so your own policy sets the rules. Our holiday pay guide covers the federal baseline. On a 9/80, the trouble is that most policies grant holidays and vacation in 8-hour days, while most scheduled days are 9 hours.

A holiday on a 9-hour day. Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, 2026. On the sample calendar below, that is a 9-hour day for everyone. For Group A, it falls in a workweek that ends at noon on Friday, November 27: the employee works Monday to Wednesday (27 hours) and Friday morning (4 hours), for 31 hours. Add 8 hours of holiday pay and the week pays for 39 hours, one short of a normal check. Common fixes:

1. Pay 9 hours of holiday pay for holidays that land on a 9-hour day.
2. Let the employee cover the gap with 1 hour of PTO.
3. Let the employee make up the hour inside the same workweek. In California, check this against your AWS first, because hours beyond the adopted schedule are overtime.

A holiday on the 8-hour Friday. Christmas falls on Friday, December 25, 2026, which is an 8-hour Friday for Group A on the sample calendar. Eight hours of holiday pay covers the day exactly, with 4 hours on each side of the workweek split. Holiday hours are not hours worked, so they don’t count toward overtime under federal law.

A holiday on the day off. New Year’s Day, Friday, January 1, 2027, lands on Group A’s scheduled day off (and Christmas lands on Group B’s). Some employers give a floating holiday to use later; others say the day off already covers it. Pick one and write it down before the holiday, not after.

Switching schedules for holiday weeks. Some employers drop back to five 8-hour days in a holiday week. That is allowed, but the Department of Labor warned in FLSA2004-18NA that reverting can create an overtime workweek: in the employer’s example, the return to 9-hour days produced a 44-hour workweek. Check the weeks after any temporary change.

PTO in hours, not days. A day of vacation on a 9-hour day is 9 hours of PTO. A full Monday-to-Friday week off costs 44 hours in a week with the 8-hour Friday and 36 hours in a week with the day off. Track PTO balances in hours so nobody gains or loses time, and explain it to employees before the switch. Our paid time off guide covers accrual in hours, and the same logic applies to sick leave laws that set accrual by hours worked.

9/80 schedule pros and cons

A 9/80 schedule is a real benefit for many employees, but it doesn’t suit every role. Weigh both sides before you put it to a vote.

The best fits are office, engineering, design, back-office and field roles where the work can be planned. Retail counters and coffee bars that open seven days a week usually need a rotating shift pattern instead, though their office or purchasing staff might do well on a 9/80.

9/80 vs other compressed work week options

A compressed work week is any schedule that fits full-time hours into fewer, longer days. The 9/80 is the gentlest version. Here is how it compares with other common patterns:

The 12-hour rotations above are built for 24/7 coverage, and they create overtime weeks by design under the FLSA, because some weeks run past 40 hours. A 9/80 can be set up with no scheduled overtime at all, which is a big part of its appeal.

How to roll out a 9/80 schedule

1. Choose who is eligible. Decide which roles can run a 9/80 and which need full weekday coverage. Write down the reason, so eligibility decisions are consistent and not personal.
2. Pick the day off and the split. Fridays are most common. Decide whether everyone shares the same day off or the team is split into two groups on alternating Fridays.
3. Set the workweek. Fix the start at the midpoint of the 8-hour day, such as Friday at 12:00 p.m., and put it in writing. Make the change permanent.
4. Check state rules. In California, run the AWS election by the book. In Alaska or Nevada, confirm the daily overtime exception you rely on.
5. Update holiday and PTO policies. Convert balances and accruals to hours, and decide how holidays on 9-hour days, the 8-hour Friday and the day off are paid.
6. Set up timekeeping and payroll. The time clock and payroll must split Friday hours into the right workweek. Run a test pay period before the first live one.
7. Publish the calendar. Give every employee a dated list of their days off for at least the next quarter. A work schedule template works for a small team.
8. Review after 90 days. Look at coverage, overtime and feedback, and keep the right to adjust or end the schedule, subject to any state election rules.

Use the text below as a starting point for your handbook. Edit the bracketed items, and have it reviewed for your state.

Sample 9/80 calendar

Here is an illustrative calendar for a small team. Suppose Northfield Coffee in Austin, Texas, puts its two-person office team on a 9/80: a new purchasing coordinator, Owen Grant, is on Group A, and a new bookkeeper, Tess Larkin, is on Group B. Baristas and kitchen staff stay on their usual shifts. The workweek runs from Friday at 12:00 p.m. to the next Friday at 11:59 a.m. Monday through Thursday are 9-hour days for both groups.

Because the groups alternate, someone covers the office every Friday, and the holiday rule in the policy decides what each person receives when Christmas and New Year’s Day land on a day off. Texas has no daily overtime law, so Northfield only needs the workweek split to keep both groups at 40 hours a week. Its biweekly pay period still runs Sunday to Saturday (November 1–14, paid Friday, November 20), so payroll assigns Friday hours to the workweek they fall in.

Frequently asked questions