Compensation Insights Inspired by Insomnia

Hoisted (and edited) from a comment on this post based on almost two years of working mixed day/night/weekend shifts .

1. Mandatory 1.5x pay on all federal holidays. Holidays are now largely for office workers, so the workers in retail, hospitality, etc. should at least get some compensation for not being able to spend time with their friends and family.
2. Mandatory 1.5x pay for overnight hours (2230-0530). Overnight work has serious negative health effects.
3. Increased overtime as hours go up - 1.75x at 50 hours, 2.0x at 60 hours, 2.5x at 70 hours, etc. The effects of working additional hours are not linear.
4. Every business must declare one calendar day per week a "day of rest" and pay 1.5x on that day. (Yes, I am attempting to skirt establishment issues here.) Weekends are a good thing and people who can't enjoy them should be compensated. Optionally, businesses can declare themselves 24-7 operations and pay 1.25x on both traditional weekend days.
5. Effects should compound - day of rest + overnight = 2.0x.

Those policies would have the following effects (that I can think of right away):

1. Fewer 24/7 stores and restaurants.  This will inconvenience some people.  On the other hand, there will be fewer sleepy workers and customers on the road.  This will reduce premature deaths.
2. Fewer late night bars.  This will reduce premature deaths at the price of offending various barflies.
3. Fewer 24/7 factories.  This will cause a few to move to other, less regulated countries.  On the other hand, there will be fewer sleepy workers on the road as well as performing potentially dangerous tasks on their shift.  This will reduce premature deaths.
4. Fewer commercial drivers (long-distance truckers, local delivery, couriers) on the road.  This will increase transportation costs across the economy but  will reduce premature deaths.
5. Fewer late night/early morning flights.  Airfare costs will increase a bit, but late night and early morning noise pollution will decrease.  Most airlines run their domestic flights 0600-2359 (in a given time zone) so the effects on actual flights will be small.  The cost increases will mostly come from ground staff wages.
6. Less overnight road construction.  This will inconvenience a lot of drivers as more lane-miles will be blocked during the day and may lead to more accidents.  The effects on the safety of workers will probably be an improvement - fewer driving at odd hours, more permanent barriers set up, and better lighting on the work being done.
7. A significant increase in hospital and nursing home costs.  These are 24/7 facilities without much room to decrease staffing.  Some night shift premiums are probably already offered, but aren't 1.5x daytime shifts.
8. Some increase in first responder costs.  Most first responders (police, fire, EMS) are unionized and probably already have night shift premiums negotiated, but not as high as 1.5x.  However, having fewer vehicles on the road overnight should allow for somewhat decreased first responder staffing.

A few comments:

1. I chose 2230-0530 to allow for two full-time non-overlapping shifts.  Capacity utilization matters both to individual businesses and to economies as a whole, for better or worse, at least until sleepless robots relieve us all from the need to work.
2. Weekends are complicated, mostly due to the first amendment.  I think my solution is legally workable in the US, if not entirely pleasing.  If the first amendment did not exist, I would just require mandatory 1.5x pay on Sundays.
3. There are ways employers could game the rules (trying to force more drivers to become contractors, for instance) but if there is the political will to implement my suggestions, there will also be the political will to remedy any attempted circumventions.