Clock changes
Night shift pay when the clocks change
Enter your shift, break, the other hours of the week and your rate: the calculator gives the hours actually worked on the change night and the week’s pay.
Hours worked on the night of Saturday, October 31 to November 1, 2026
9 h
| Same shift on an ordinary night | 8 h |
| Workweek total | 41 h |
| Overtime hours (over 40) | 1 h |
| Gross pay for the week | $830.00 |
| Difference with an ordinary week | +$30.00 |
The shift is on duty when 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m.: one more hour worked. Federal overtime rule; some states add daily overtime. Everything you enter stays in this browser: nothing is sent or stored.
A night shift that is on duty at 2 a.m. on a clock change night does not last the hours printed on the schedule. When clocks fall back, on Sunday, November 1, 2026, the hour from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. is worked twice, so a shift from 11 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. with a 30-minute unpaid break, eight hours on any other night, is nine hours of work. When clocks spring forward, on Sunday, March 14, 2027, the hour from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. does not exist, and the same shift is seven hours. The Department of Labor’s Hours Worked Advisor uses exactly this example and states the rule: employees must be credited with all hours actually worked. The extra hour in November is paid like any other, and for an hourly worker who is not exempt from overtime it can tip the workweek over 40 hours. Federal law counts overtime week by week, so that hour is paid at one and a half times the regular rate if the week already holds 32 hours plus the 9-hour night. The hour lost in March is simply not worked, and an employer may pay or not pay it.
Clock changes of any year
Clocks fall back in 2027
Sunday, November 7, 2027
| Spring forward, 2 a.m. becomes 3 a.m. | Sunday, March 14, 2027 |
| Fall back, 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m. | Sunday, November 7, 2027 |
| Days on daylight time | 238 |
Second Sunday of March and first Sunday of November under 15 U.S.C. 260a, unless Congress changes the law.
Holiday rules and pay calendars read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
The Department of Labor rule
The Hours Worked Advisor of the Department of Labor answers the question directly with an overnight shift from 11 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. with a 30-minute meal break. On a normal night it is eight hours of work. On the night daylight saving time begins, it is seven hours, and the employer has to pay for seven. On the night it ends, it is nine hours, and the employer has to pay for nine. The principle behind the example is the general one of the Fair Labor Standards Act: all hours actually worked must be counted, and the clock on the wall does not change that.
The calculator applies the same reasoning to any start time, end time and break. It checks whether the shift is on duty at 2 a.m., adds one hour in fall or takes one away in spring, then adds the hours of the rest of your workweek.
When the extra hour becomes overtime
Overtime under federal law is counted per workweek of seven consecutive days, and each workweek stands alone: hours above 40 in one week are not offset by a short week before or after. The fall change night falls on a Saturday to Sunday, so it belongs to whichever workweek your employer has fixed; with a Sunday to Saturday workweek, the hours after midnight count in the new week. A worker with four other eight-hour shifts in the week works 32 plus 9, which is 41 hours, and one of them is paid at time and a half.
| Case | Hours that night | Week total | Overtime hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary night | 8 | 40 | 0 |
| Clocks fall back | 9 | 41 | 1 |
| Clocks spring forward | 7 | 39 | 0 |
The overtime must be paid on the regular payday for the period in which the workweek ends, or as soon after it as the hours can be computed, under 29 CFR 778.106. Some states add daily overtime after eight hours in a day; there the ninth hour of the fall night is overtime on its own. The calculator shows the federal weekly rule only.
The spring night
In spring the shift loses an hour. Federal law does not require pay for hours not worked, so an hourly worker paid strictly by the clock earns one hour less that week. Many employers, hospitals and plants among them, pay the scheduled hours anyway, by policy or under a collective agreement; others offer to extend the shift by an hour. The useful step is to read your employer’s policy before the change night, which falls on Sunday, March 14, 2027 next.
Clock changes of any year
Clocks fall back in 2027
Sunday, November 7, 2027
| Spring forward, 2 a.m. becomes 3 a.m. | Sunday, March 14, 2027 |
| Fall back, 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m. | Sunday, November 7, 2027 |
| Days on daylight time | 238 |
Second Sunday of March and first Sunday of November under 15 U.S.C. 260a, unless Congress changes the law.
Recording the hours
Timekeeping systems that store time in local clock time can misread the change night, showing seven hours in fall and nine in spring, the reverse of the truth, when they subtract the start time from the end time. Systems that store time with the offset or in universal time get it right. If your timecard for the change night shows the scheduled hours rather than the hours worked, it is worth asking payroll to check, because the federal clock change dates come from 15 U.S.C. 260a and are known years in advance. The countdown to the fall change and the 2027 dates help to plan the rosters.