FLSA Overtime Rules Explained

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) says a covered, non-exempt employee must be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate for every hour worked over 40 in a workweek. That is the whole federal rule. It does not cap how many hours an adult can work, and it does not care which day the hours fall on. To see it on your own numbers, put your rate and hours into the Overtime Pay calculator.

A workweek is a fixed, recurring block of 168 hours — seven straight 24-hour days. Your employer picks when it starts, and it does not have to match the calendar week or the pay period. Each workweek stands alone: hours cannot be averaged across two weeks. Work 36 hours one week and 44 the next and you are owed 4 hours of overtime for the second week, even though the two weeks average 40. If you are paid every two weeks, the Time Card calculator totals each week separately so the overtime lands in the right one.

Overtime is 1.5× the regular rate, and the regular rate includes nearly everything you are paid for the work: hourly wages, shift differentials, commissions, and non-discretionary bonuses such as attendance or production bonuses. A few things stay out — truly discretionary bonuses, gifts, expense reimbursements, and paid time off. So a $20-an-hour worker who also earns a $40 production bonus in a 40-plus-hour week has a regular rate above $20, and overtime is figured on the higher number. If you work two jobs at two rates for the same employer, the Blended Overtime Rate calculator works out the weighted rate.

Overtime applies to non-exempt employees. To be exempt under the main white-collar exemptions, a job has to pass three tests at once: it is paid on a salary basis, the salary is at least $684 a week ($35,568 a year), and the actual duties are executive, administrative or professional. A job title or a salary alone does not make someone exempt. The Exempt vs Non-Exempt test walks through all three, and this guide explains each one.

People often expect more from federal law than it gives. The FLSA does not require extra pay for weekends, nights or holidays unless those hours push you past 40. It does not require double time. It does not require vacation, sick pay or holiday pay, and it does not require meal or rest breaks. Where an employer does give short breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes, that time counts as hours worked; a real meal break, usually 30 minutes or more with no duties, does not. Private employers also cannot swap overtime pay for comp time — that option exists only for public agencies.

The FLSA is a floor. Where a state rule is more generous, the employee gets the better of the two. California and Alaska pay overtime after 8 hours in a day, Colorado after 12, and Nevada after 8 for workers earning under 1.5 times the minimum wage. California also pays double time after 12 hours in a day. Several states set a higher salary threshold for exempt staff. Check your own state on the overtime laws by state page, or put two states side by side with the state comparison.

Employers have to keep payroll records for at least three years and the time cards behind them for two. If overtime was not paid, a claim generally has to be brought within two years, or three if the violation was willful. A successful claim recovers the unpaid overtime and, in most cases, an equal amount again as liquidated damages. Complaints go to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, or to your state labor agency where state law applies.