TN 8 (11-93)

A. DEFINITION

A nonwork period is any pay period during an employment relationship in which the employee does not do any work for the employer. Payments for nonwork periods may be labeled as idle-time, standby, or subject-to-call.

EXAMPLE: Company ABC keeps its employees on the payroll and pays them their regular wages during the period it is shut down because of a fire, explosion or similar occurrence.

B. POLICY

Payments for nonwork periods to an employee before or in the month he/she attains retirement age are wages.

1. Before 1984

Before 1984 payments to an employee after retirement age for periods during which he/she did not work for the employer were excluded from wages unless the payment represented vacation or sick pay.

2. After 1983

Beginning in 1984, payments to an employee over the retirement age for nonwork periods are wages.

REFERENCE: 1983 Social Security Amendments, P.L. 98-21