Safety Release & Safety Release Pay. Safety Release provides the employee with eight hours off work before being required to return to work if the employee has worked 16 or more hours without at least eight hours off. Prior to working 16 or more hours without an eight hour break before the next regularly scheduled shift, the employee shall make the supervisor aware that the employee believes his/her current work assignment may result in the employee becoming eligible for Safety Release. Safety Release Pay compensates the employee for hours the employee is normally scheduled to work until eight hours of Safety Release has been satisfied. Safety Release Pay is not paid if the employee does not complete their scheduled shift in which they use more than 2.5 hours of accrued leave at the end of their shift. Safety Release Pay is not paid at the end of the employee’s last scheduled shift of their workweek if using more than 2.5 hours of accrued leave at the end of the shift. Once an employee has returned to work after Safety Release, the clock begins again for counting hours. Safety Release Pay does not count as “hours worked” for calculating overtime.
