In the most prevalent 12-hour shift schedule officers work four days, followed by four days off. Obviously, the eight-day cycle of work days and off days does not correspond to a seven-day week. In any given one-week work period, the number of hours scheduled, let alone the number of hours actually worked, will fluctuate between 48 hours and 36 hours. For a one-week work period, the 48 hour weeks create five hours of overtime pay (five hours in excess of the 43 hour overtime threshold). Even with a two-week work period the schedule will create fluctuations in the number of hours scheduled to be worked from one work period to another. As you can see from the following table, a four-week work period provides a consistent number of hours scheduled for each work period. The 168 hours scheduled for each four-week work period is less than the 171 hours overtime threshold for a four-week work period.

Schedule then repeats.