A 9/80 work schedule compresses eighty hours of work into nine days across two weeks instead of ten: eight nine-hour days and one eight-hour day, with the tenth day off, which is almost always every other Friday. It is common in engineering firms, defense contractors, aerospace and local government, and it is loved for the three-day weekend every other week. It also has a catch that makes it the most misunderstood schedule in payroll: it only avoids overtime if the workweek is defined to split the eight-hour day down the middle. This page sets out what is a 9/80 work schedule, how the 9 80 schedule is laid out, and what is a 9/80 schedule doing to the pay week that makes the definition matter.
The two weeks, laid out
Week one: Monday to Thursday nine hours each, Friday eight hours, 44 hours. Week two: Monday to Thursday nine hours each, Friday off, 36 hours. Eighty hours in nine days. Some employers put the short day on Monday or split the off day between two groups so the office is never empty on a Friday; the shape is the same. For a single person it is four long days, one ordinary day, four long days and a long weekend, repeating.
The workweek trick, and why it matters
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act overtime is owed on hours over forty in a fixed, recurring workweek of seven consecutive days. A calendar workweek makes the 9/80's first week a 44-hour week with four hours of overtime. The fix, used by every employer that runs a 9/80 for hourly staff, is to define the workweek as starting in the middle of the eight-hour Friday: four hours of that day fall in one workweek and four in the next, so both workweeks total exactly forty. The definition has to be written down, fixed in advance and applied consistently, and changing it to dodge overtime in a particular week is not permitted. Salaried exempt staff have no overtime question, which is why the 9/80 spread first in offices.
Running a 9/80 for a shift crew
A 9/80 covers offices and day operations; it does not cover a clock, because everyone is off the same Friday unless the crew is split into two groups with alternating Fridays. For a plant or a dispatch center the equivalent long-weekend patterns are the 2-2-3 and its cousins on 12-hour shifts. The rotating schedule generator on this site takes a 9/80 as nine days on in a fourteen-day cycle at nine hours a shift and returns 40.5 average hours; the half hour is the eight-hour day, and the workweek definition is what turns it into no overtime at all.
Questions people ask about 9/80 work schedule
How does a 9/80 schedule avoid overtime?
By defining the workweek to start in the middle of the eight-hour day, so that each seven-day workweek contains exactly forty hours. The definition must be fixed in advance and written down.
Which day is off on a 9/80?
Every other Friday in most workplaces. Some split staff into two groups with alternating Fridays so the office is always covered.
Can a 9/80 work for hourly employees?
Yes, if the workweek is defined properly and any state daily overtime rule is checked. California, for one, requires daily overtime over eight hours unless an alternative workweek schedule has been adopted by employee vote.