29 C.F.R. § 785.21
Less than 24-hour duty
An employee who is required to be on duty for less than 24 hours is working even though he is permitted to sleep or engage in other personal activities when not busy. A telephone operator, for example, who is required to be on duty for specified hours is working even though she is permitted to sleep when not busy answering calls. It makes no difference that she is furnished facilities for sleeping. Her time is given to her employer. She is required to be on duty and the time is worktime. (Central Mo. Telephone Co. v. Conwell, 170 F. 2d 641 (C.A. 8, 1948); Strand v. Garden Valley Telephone Co., 51 F. Supp. 898 (D. Minn. 1943); Whitsitt v. Enid Ice & Fuel Co., 2 W. H. Cases 584; 6 Labor Cases para. 61,226 (W.D. Okla. 1942).)
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 35
cases (10 in the last 5 years), 1987–2025 · leading case: Lisa A. Hultgren Victoria M. Smith and Daniel R. Turner v. County of Lancaster, Nebraska, a Political Subdivision of the
Lisa A. Hultgren Victoria M. Smith and Daniel R. Turner v. County of Lancaster, Nebraska, a Political Subdivision of the (1990)
“29 C.F.R. § 785.21 . Where an employee is required to be on duty for 24 hours or more, the employer and the employee may agree to exclude eight hours of sleep time “provided adequate sleeping facilities are furnished by the employer and the employee can usually enjoy an…”
Wage Claims of Stewart v. Region II Child & Family Services (1990)
“The court utilized 29 C.F.R. 785.21, a regulation which applied only if the claimants were not on duty in excess of twenty-four hours and did not live on the employer's property for an extended period.”
JACKSONVILLE PROFESSIONAL FIRE FIGHTERS ASSOCIATION LOCAL 2961, IAFF v. City of Jacksonville (1987)
“(a) Where the employer has elected to use the section 7(k) exemption, sleep and meal time cannot be excluded from compensable hours of work where (1) the employee is on duty for less than 24 hours, which is the general rule applicable to all employees (29 CFR 785.21) and (2)…”
Irma Ruth Halferty v. Pulse Drug Company, Inc., D/B/A Pulse Ambulance Service (1987)
“The other two sections address the employee who works at the employer’s place of business, but does not reside there, either for less than 24 hours, see 29 C.F.R. § 785.21 , or for 24 hours or more a week.”
Lott v. Rigby (1990)
“29 C.F.R. § 785.21 provides An employee who is required to be on duty for less than 24 hours is working even though he is permitted to sleep or engage in other personal activities when not busy .”
Aguilar v. Association for Retarded Citizens (1991)
“We have reached this conclusion, which represents a departure from the general rule under 29 CFR 785.21, because of the home-like environment afforded to these employees in community residences, with private quarters and other amenities.”
Maria Eugenia Blanco v. Anand Adrian Samuel (2024)
“See 29 C.F.R. § 785.21 (“An employee who is required to be on duty for less than 24 hours is working even though [s]he is per- mitted to sleep or engage in other personal activities when not busy .”
Herman v. Palo Group Foster Home, Inc. (1999)
“” 29 C.F.R. § 785.21 . When employees are on duty for twenty-four hours or more, “the employer and the employee may agree to exclude bona fide meal periods and a bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping period of not more than 8 hours from hours worked, provided adequate sleeping…”
Beaston v. Scotland School for Veterans' Children (1988)
“However, the court parts company with the Administrator with respect to his conclusion in 29 C.F.R. § 785.21 that no sleep time may be deducted from the employee’s hours of work if the employee is on duty for less than 24 hours, regardless of the other surrounding circumstances.”
Shannon v. Pleasant Valley Community Living Arrangements, Inc. (2000)
“See 29 C.F.R. §§ 785.21 , 785.22, 785.23. These rules, which merely state the agency’s position on what the underlying statute means in particular contexts, do not have the force of law and it is not precisely settled whether the interpretations embodied therein are entitled to…”
Montoya v. CRST Expedited, Inc. (2023)
“6 29 C.F.R. § 785.21 provides that "[a]n employee who is required to be on duty for less than 24 hours is working even though he is permitted to sleep or engage in other personal activities when not busy.”
Maldonado v. Alta Healthcare Group, Inc. (2014)
“See 29 C.F.R. §§ 785.21 , 785.22, 785.23. 12 For ex *1191 ample, Section 785.”
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