5 U.S.C. § 5546
Section 5546 · Pay for Sunday and holiday work
This is the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 29 court decisions — leading case Doe v. United States (2006)
Most recently applied in Yanko v. United States (September 2017)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) An employee who performs work during a regularly scheduled 8-hour period of service which is not overtime work as defined by section 5542(a) of this title a part of which is performed on Sunday is entitled to pay for the entire period of service at the rate of his basic pay, plus premium pay at a rate equal to 25 percent of his rate of basic pay. For employees serving outside the United States in areas where Sunday is a routine workday and another day of the week is officially recognized as the day of rest and worship, the Secretary of State may designate the officially recognized day of rest and worship as the day with respect to which the preceding sentence shall apply instead of Sunday.
(b) An employee who performs work on a holiday designated by Federal Statute, Executive order, or with respect to an employee of the government of the District of Columbia, by order of the District of Columbia Council, is entitled to pay at the rate of his basic pay, plus premium pay at a rate equal to the rate of his basic pay, for that holiday work which is not—
(1) in excess of 8 hours; or
(2) overtime work as defined by section 5542(a) of this title.
(c) An employee who is required to perform any work on a designated holiday is entitled to pay for at least 2 hours of holiday work.
(d) An employee who performs overtime work as defined by section 5542(a) of this title on a Sunday or a designated holiday is entitled to pay for that overtime work in accordance with section 5542(a) of this title.
(e) Premium pay under this section is in addition to premium pay which may be due for the same work under section 5545(a) and (b) of this title, providing premium pay for nightwork.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Statutes at Large 5 U.S.C. 922. June 30, 1945, ch. 212, §302, 59 Stat. 298. May 24, 1946, ch. 270, §11, 60 Stat. 218. Sept. 1, 1954, ch. 1208, §207, 68 Stat. 1110. July 18, 1958, Pub. L. 85–533, §1, 72 Stat. 377. In subsections (a) and (b), the word “officer” is omitted as included in “employee”.
In subsections (b) and (c), the word “designated” is substituted for “such a” and “such” in former section 922(b) and (c) to identify the holiday as one designated by statute, Executive order, or the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia.
Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.
In subsection (a), the words “An employee who performs work . . . is entitled to pay . . . at the rate of his basic pay” are coextensive with and substituted for “Any . . . service . . . performed . . . shall be compensated . . . at the rate of basic compensation of the officer or employee performing such work.” The words “section 5542(a) of this title” are substituted for “section 201 of this Act” to reflect the codification of that section in title 5, United States Code. The words “between midnight Saturday and midnight Sunday” are coextensive with and substituted for “within the period commencing at midnight Saturday and ending at midnight Sunday”.
Amendments
1998—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 105–277 inserted at end “For employees serving outside the United States in areas where Sunday is a routine workday and another day of the week is officially recognized as the day of rest and worship, the Secretary of State may designate the officially recognized day of rest and worship as the day with respect to which the preceding sentence shall apply instead of Sunday.”
1968—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 90–623, §1(13)(A), substituted “District of Columbia Council” for “Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia”.
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 90–623, §1(13)(B), substituted “5542(a)” for “5442(a)”.
Effective Date of 1968 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 90–623 intended to restate without substantive change the law in effect on Oct. 22, 1968, but amendment of subsec. (d) of this section by section 1(13)(B) of Pub. L. 90–623 effective as of Sept. 6, 1966, for all purposes, see section 6 of Pub. L. 90–623, set out as a note under section 5334 of this title.
Transfer of Functions
District of Columbia Council, as established by Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1967, abolished as of noon Jan. 2, 1975, by Pub. L. 93–198, title VII, §711, Dec. 24, 1973, 87 Stat. 818, classified to section 1–211 of the District of Columbia Code, and replaced by Council of District of Columbia, as provided by Pub. L. 93–198, title IV, §401, Dec. 24, 1973, 87 Stat. 785, classified to section 1–221 of the District of Columbia Code.
Condition of Performance
Pub. L. 105–277, div. A, title I, §101(h) [title VI, §624], Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–480, 2681–518, provided that: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no part of any funds provided by this Act or any other Act beginning in fiscal year 1999 and thereafter shall be available for paying Sunday premium pay to any employee unless such employee actually performed work during the time corresponding to such premium pay.”
Similar provisions were contained in the following prior appropriations act:
Pub. L. 105–61, title VI, §636, Oct. 10, 1997, 111 Stat. 1316.
Cross References
Legal public holidays, see section 6103 of this title.