Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ask Mr. Sun:

When clocks fall back tomorrow, will employees’ paychecks rise?

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Mr. Sun

Mr. Sun, with tonight’s time change, 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m., so we get to live that hour over again in case we didn’t like how we spent it the first time. But how does that affect people working tonight? They get paid for that hour twice?

Thanks for the question, pardner. You’re probably right; a lot of people on a Saturday night might like to have a mulligan and relive 1 a.m. one more time. Practice makes perfect.

As for people on the job, I called around town — MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, Metro Police, UMC and Smith’s grocery stores — and found this consensus: Most people who are on the clock and have to work the 1 a.m. hour one more time will get paid for that extra hour of work. If they’re working a full work shift, that extra hour will be paid as overtime.

Roughly 20 percent of our casino workers work the Saturday night/Sunday morning shift.

Metro Police will not be working an extra hour overnight Saturday because of the way its overnight shifts are staggered. Police generally work 10-hour shifts, and if that includes the 1 a.m. hour twice, they’ll still end their shift that morning after putting in 10 hours. That means that if normally they end at 8 a.m., they’d call it a night at 7 a.m. this weekend. But don’t think for a minute that there won’t be any cops on the street until the next shift begins. Because the staggered shifts mean overlapping hours, officers will still be out on the streets protecting us.

Keep in mind that in six months or so, when we “spring forward,” people who normally work eight hours during the time change will be paid for seven hours if they’re on the job when 2 a.m. jumps to 3 a.m.

So the extra hour of overtime you might be paid this weekend? Put it in the bank!

Got something for Mr. Sun? Email [email protected].

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