Overtime is paid at a rate of at least one and one-half times your regular rate of pay for every hour you work beyond 40 in a single workweek, and it is due on the regular payday for the pay period in which you earned it.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 207 – Maximum Hours That’s the federal rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Whether it applies to you, and how much you actually receive, depends on your exemption status and on what counts as your “regular rate” — a figure that often includes more than your base hourly wage.
The 40-Hour Workweek Trigger
A workweek under the FLSA is a fixed, recurring block of 168 hours: seven consecutive 24-hour periods.2eCFR. 29 CFR 778.105 – Determining the Workweek It can start on any day and at any hour, but once your employer sets it, it stays fixed. Every hour past 40 in that block earns the overtime premium.
Each week stands alone. An employer cannot average two weeks together to erase overtime. Work 50 hours one week and 30 the next, and you are still owed 10 hours of overtime for the first week.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 207 – Maximum Hours
Employers also cannot refuse to pay by pointing to a rule against unauthorized overtime. If your employer knew or had reason to know you were working, the time counts, even if you stayed late voluntarily to finish a task.3eCFR. 29 CFR Part 785 Subpart C – Employees Suffered or Permitted to Work
Who Qualifies for Overtime
Most workers are entitled to overtime by default. The FLSA removes that right only for employees who meet specific exemption criteria based on both pay level and job duties. If you don’t meet every element, you are non-exempt and your employer owes you time-and-a-half.
The Salary Threshold
The Department of Labor issued a rule in April 2024 that would have raised the salary threshold for “white-collar” exemptions in two phases, reaching $1,128 per week ($58,656 per year). A federal court vacated that rule in November 2024. The enforceable threshold reverted to the 2019 level: $684 per week, or $35,568 per year.4U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption If you earn less than $684 per week on a salary basis, you qualify for overtime regardless of your job duties.
The Duties Test
Meeting the salary threshold alone does not make you exempt. Your primary duty must also fit an executive, administrative, learned professional, or creative professional category — for example, managing a department and directing at least two full-time employees (executive), or performing office work directly related to business operations with regular exercise of independent judgment on significant matters (administrative).5U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17A – Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer and Outside Sales Employees Under the FLSA
A salaried position does not automatically mean no overtime. A job title like “manager” or “administrator” doesn’t settle the question either. The analysis turns on what you actually spend most of your time doing.
Two other categories work slightly differently. Computer professionals such as systems analysts, programmers, and software engineers can be exempt if they earn at least $684 per week on a salary basis or at least $27.63 per hour and their primary duty involves designing, developing, testing, or analyzing computer systems or programs; workers who just use computers as a tool don’t qualify.6U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17E – Exemption for Employees in Computer-Related Occupations Under the FLSA Outside sales employees are exempt if their primary duty is making sales or obtaining contracts and they regularly work away from the employer’s place of business; no salary threshold applies.7U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17F – Exemption for Outside Sales Employees Under the FLSA
How the Regular Rate Is Calculated
The overtime premium is not simply 1.5 times your base hourly wage. Federal law defines the “regular rate” as your total pay for the workweek divided by the total hours you actually worked.8eCFR. 29 CFR 778.109 – The Regular Rate Is an Hourly Rate That total includes shift differentials, non-discretionary bonuses, and most other compensation.
Non-discretionary bonuses must be folded into the regular rate. A bonus is non-discretionary when the employer announced it in advance or tied it to a formula: production bonuses, attendance bonuses, quality bonuses, safety bonuses. Employees know about and expect these payments.9U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 56C – Bonuses Under the FLSA A bonus can be excluded from the regular rate only when the employer retains sole control over whether to pay it and how much, decides at or near the end of the period, and no prior agreement or pattern causes the employee to expect it.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 207 – Maximum Hours Holiday gifts and surprise bonuses not tied to hours, production, or efficiency can also be excluded.
A Worked Example
Suppose you earn $20 per hour and receive a $40 weekly productivity bonus. In a 40-hour week, your total pay is $840 ($800 in base wages plus the $40 bonus), so your regular rate is $21 per hour. If you work 50 hours, the first 40 are already compensated at $21 through your regular pay. The 10 overtime hours earn an additional half-time premium of $10.50 each ($21 × 0.5), on top of the $21 straight-time rate you already received, bringing each overtime hour to $31.50. Your total pay for the week: $1,155 ($840 base-plus-bonus + $210 straight time for the extra 10 hours + $105 overtime premium).8eCFR. 29 CFR 778.109 – The Regular Rate Is an Hourly Rate
Overtime When You Aren’t Paid by the Hour
Piece-rate and commission workers use the same formula: total earnings divided by total hours equals the regular rate, and the employer owes an extra half-time premium for each hour beyond 40. Earn $600 in piece-rate pay over 50 hours, and your regular rate is $12 per hour; the piece rate already covers straight time for all 50 hours, so the employer owes an additional $6 per overtime hour, or $60.8eCFR. 29 CFR 778.109 – The Regular Rate Is an Hourly Rate
A limited exemption exists for commissioned employees of retail or service businesses. You can be exempt only if all three of these conditions are met: you work at such an establishment, your regular rate exceeds 1.5 times the minimum wage for every hour worked, and more than half your total earnings in a representative period come from commissions.10U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 20 – Employees Paid Commissions by Retail Establishments
Salaried non-exempt employees whose hours vary from week to week may be paid under the fluctuating workweek method. The fixed salary covers straight time for every hour worked, whether 35 or 50, so the employer owes only an additional half-time premium for each overtime hour. The regular rate changes each week because the same salary is spread across a different number of hours.11eCFR. 29 CFR 778.114 – Fluctuating Workweek Method of Computing Overtime The arrangement requires a clear understanding that the salary covers all hours, and non-discretionary bonuses or commissions still get folded into the regular rate.
For tipped employees whose employer takes a tip credit, the regular rate reflects the full minimum wage, not just the reduced cash wage. It includes the cash wage paid, the tip credit amount per hour, and any commissions or non-discretionary bonuses. Tips you receive beyond the tip credit do not count toward the regular rate.12eCFR. 29 CFR 531.60 – Overtime Payments Because 1.5 times is calculated on the full regular rate, overtime pay for tipped workers is typically higher than 1.5 times the cash wage alone.
Hours That Count Toward the 40
Correctly counting hours matters as much as the rate itself, because several kinds of time that don’t feel like “real work” still push you toward and past the 40-hour threshold.
Your normal commute isn’t compensable, but travel between job sites during the workday is. A special one-day assignment to another city counts as hours worked, minus your normal commute. For overnight travel, time that falls within your regular working hours counts on both working and non-working days; time as a passenger outside those hours generally doesn’t.13U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 22 – Hours Worked Under the FLSA
Training and meetings count as work time unless all four of these conditions are met: the session is outside your normal hours, attendance is truly voluntary, the content is not directly related to your job, and you do no other work during the session. If even one fails, the time counts.13U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 22 – Hours Worked Under the FLSA
On-call time depends on where you have to be. Required to stay on the employer’s premises? You’re working. Free to go home and simply need to be reachable? That time generally doesn’t count, unless the restrictions are so heavy you cannot use the time for your own purposes.13U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 22 – Hours Worked Under the FLSA
When the Overtime Must Be Paid
Overtime is due on the regular payday for the period in which you earned it. If the correct amount cannot be calculated before the payroll deadline — say, because a retroactive bonus has to be allocated across earlier weeks — the employer must pay the overtime as soon as the figure can be computed, and no later than the next regular payday after that.14eCFR. 29 CFR 778.106 – Time of Payment
Private-sector employers generally cannot offer compensatory time off in place of overtime pay. Public agencies have a limited ability to provide comp time under certain conditions, but private employers must pay the cash premium.
Federal law requires employers to keep payroll records, including hours worked and wages paid, for at least three years.15eCFR. 29 CFR 516.5 – Records to Be Preserved 3 Years Your pay stub should show overtime hours and the rate applied, which lets you verify that bonuses and shift differentials were included in the premium.
State Daily Overtime Rules
Federal law only triggers overtime after 40 hours in a workweek, no matter how long any single day runs. A handful of jurisdictions require overtime for hours worked beyond eight in one day, which can generate overtime even when your weekly total stays at or below 40. State overtime laws cannot reduce your federal protections; they can only add to them.
If Your Employer Didn’t Pay
You can file a confidential complaint with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division by calling 1-866-487-9243. The line will direct you to your nearest office, which will help determine whether an investigation is appropriate.16U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint Your employer is prohibited from retaliating against you for filing a complaint or cooperating with an investigation.
You can also sue in federal or state court. The standard deadline is two years from the violation. If the violation was willful — meaning the employer knew or recklessly disregarded the law — the deadline extends to three years.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 255 – Statute of Limitations
If you win, the employer owes the full amount of unpaid overtime plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, effectively doubling the recovery.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties The court must also award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, so you generally will not pay your lawyer out of the recovery.