[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR553.224]

[Page 299]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 553_APPLICATION OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT TO EMPLOYEES OF 
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS--Table of Contents
 
   Subpart C_Fire Protection and Law Enforcement Employees of Public 
                                Agencies
 
Sec. 553.224  ``Work period'' defined.

    (a) As used in section 7(k), the term ``work period'' refers to any 
established and regularly recurring period of work which, under the 
terms of the Act and legislative history, cannot be less than 7 
consecutive days nor more than 28 consecutive days. Except for this 
limitation, the work period can be of any length, and it need not 
coincide with the duty cycle or pay period or with a particular day of 
the week or hour of the day. Once the beginning and ending time of an 
employee's work period is established, however, it remains fixed 
regardless of how many hours are worked within the period. The beginning 
and ending of the work period may be changed, provided that the change 
is intended to be permanent and is not designed to evade the overtime 
compensation requirements of the Act.
    (b) An employer may have one work period applicable to all 
employees, or different work periods for different employees or groups 
of employees.