USA Overtime Laws: FLSA, State Rules, and Time-and-a-Half Pay

Federal FLSA overtime rule

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires overtime pay for many covered non-exempt employees after 40 hours worked in one workweek. The federal overtime rate is at least one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay. A workweek is a fixed seven-day period, and overtime generally cannot be avoided by averaging two workweeks together.

The regular rate can be more than a base hourly wage. Non-discretionary bonuses, commissions, shift differentials, and multiple rates may need to be included before the overtime premium is calculated. For those cases, use the regular rate of pay calculator.

States with daily overtime or double-time rules

Most states follow the federal weekly overtime model, but several states add more protective rules. Daily overtime means overtime can start before 40 weekly hours if an employee works a long day. Double time is a higher 2x premium in narrower situations.

Overtime calculators for high-search states

Searchers often want a state answer and a calculator in the same session. These pages combine the rule, minimum wage context, source review, and the correct calculator input style for each state.

Who may be exempt from overtime?

Some employees are exempt from overtime because their salary basis, salary level, and job duties meet an exemption test. Salary alone is not enough. A job title alone is not enough. If the worker is salaried but non-exempt, overtime may still be owed.

Salary, duties, and the federal exemption threshold

A salary does not automatically remove overtime rights. For the common executive, administrative, and professional exemptions, the analysis usually looks at salary basis, salary level, and job duties. The U.S. Department of Labor currently lists the standard salary level as $684 per week, equal to $35,568 per year, with separate rules for some occupations and territories.

Bonuses, commissions, tips, and regular rate traps

Many overtime mistakes happen after the hours are already counted correctly. The rate can still be wrong when payroll excludes nondiscretionary bonuses, commissions, shift differentials, multiple hourly rates, or tip-credit limits. These are regular-rate issues, which means the employee's overtime rate may be higher than base hourly wage times 1.5.

Weekly-only states are not throwaway pages

Even when a state follows the federal weekly overtime model, the page should still answer state-specific intent. The wage floor, tipped wage, complaint agency, and common local industries can change what a worker needs next. Our weekly-only state calculators use a simple hourly-rate and total-hours layout so users do not have to fill out a fake daily timecard.

What to do if overtime was not paid

Start by reconstructing one workweek at a time. Keep time records, schedules, paystubs, bonus or commission documents, and written instructions about off-the-clock work. Compare the employer's calculation against the regular-rate method and the applicable state rule. If the numbers do not match, workers can contact the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division or the relevant state labor agency.

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