Overtime Pay Labor Law
Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA
What Is Overtime?
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. For covered, nonexempt employees, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires overtime pay at a rate of not less than one and one-half times an employee’s regular rate of pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek. The U.S. Department of Labor Employment Standards Administration Overtime Fact Sheet entitled Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA states that “An employer who requires or permits an employee to work overtime is generally required to pay the employee premium pay for such overtime work.”
Unless specifically exempted, employees covered by the FLSA must receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay. There is no limit in the FLSA on the number of hours employees age 16 and older may work in any specific workweek.
The FLSAt applies on a workweek basis. An employee’s workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods. The work week need not coincide with the calendar week, but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Different workweeks may be established for different employees or groups of employees.
Averaging of hours over two or more weeks, however, is not permitted. Normally, overtime pay earned in a particular workweek must be paid on the regular pay day for the pay period in which the wages were earned.
The regular rate of pay cannot be less than the minimum wage. The regular rate includes all remuneration for employment except certain payments excluded by the FLSA itself. Payments which are not part of the regular rate include pay for expenses incurred on the employer’s behalf, premium payments for overtime work or the true premiums paid for work on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, discretionary bonuses, gifts and payments in the nature of gifts on special occasions, and payments for occasional periods when no work is performed due to vacation, holidays, or illness.
Earnings under the FLSA may be determined on a piece-rate, salary, commission, or some other basis, but in all such cases the overtime pay due must be computed on the basis of the average hourly rate derived from such earnings. The employee’s regular rate of pay is calculated by dividing the total pay for employment (except for the statutory exclusions set forth above) in any workweek by the total number of hours actually worked by the employee.
Some exceptions to the 40 hours per week standard apply under special circumstances to police officers and firefighters employed by public agencies and to employees of hospitals and nursing homes.
Federal Overtime Labor Law Versus State Overtime Labor Law
Some states also have enacted state-specific overtime laborlaws. Where an employee is subject to both the state and federal overtime labor laws, the employee is entitled to overtime according to the higher standard (i.e., the standard that will provide the higher rate of pay).
My question to you is, my regular scheduled work week is 48hr the first week which = 8hrs of overtime pay, followed by a 36hr work week the next, which is all straight pay.
P.S: I’m paid biweekly, so I would be paid 76hrs of straight pay, and 8hrs of overtime for those two weeks.
Also the company that I work for gives the employees a number of hours for vacation depending how long you worked for the company.
5yrs=100hrs
10yrs=150
15yrs=200hrs
So my main question to you is, if I take vacation on the week that I’m scheduled to work 48hrs. Should I be paid 8hrs overtime if the company is making me use 48hrs of vacation time?
The company is saying no it will be paid as 48hrs of straight pay not overtime, since the calculation of vacation hrs don’t count towards the calculation of overtime pay.
If that’s the case I should only have to use 40hrs of vacation time not 48hrs that week,
Once again the company is saying no you must use 48hrs of vacation hrs. And be paid 48hrs of straight pay.
October 24th, 2007 at 10:05 am
I worked 44 hours in a 7 day period was I entitled to overtime pay?
December 9th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
I work in a hotel some days I waitress on other I bartend and then I also work the front desk. I recieve a different wage for each dept. now if I work over 40 hours combined in the three depts. what is the law on overtime pay?
February 25th, 2008 at 1:23 am
i used to be paid overtime for any time over 40,now they have [drive time]they pick or choose what hours are considered drive time so i never reach 40 hrs.drive time is 10.00/normal is 15.00/they pick or choose what is drive/shop time to determin how much they want to pay each employee is this legal?
March 10th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I work for a large famous brand name company. My question is that in the past at about the last quarter of the year my supervisor would tell us not to log more than 40hrs.a week. My guess is to not go over budget for the year. Unaware of the laws myself I have work overtime nessary to accomplish the work load. On my time card I would write in the actual time in and out and total it at only 8hrs per day 40/week. I did this to let my supervisor know true time it took me to accomplish my tasks. I continued to do this for sometime until my supervisor noticed that the hrs. add up and told me I couldn’t do that. I didn’t do it anymore but I also wasn’t paid for the overtime that was actual worked. Do thay oue me?
March 12th, 2008 at 8:44 am
I work for a Credit Union there are no time clocks. The company schedules people 42.5 hours every week. They give you 1 hour for lunch saying half is paid and the other half isn’t. They have what they call work hours and scheduled hours, they don’t count the half hour of your lunch that you don’t get paid for towards worked hours. So if they call a meeting and you have to be there an hour early you don’t get paid for it because they say that you are only working 37.5 hours even though you are scheduled 42.5 is this fair practice?
July 12th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
My husband is a piping designer, creating piping plans for major oil producers. His company pays him an hourly wage. Recently he was told that all overtime hours are to be paid straight time rather than at time and a half. Is this legal?
July 13th, 2008 at 12:40 am
I am non-exempt but our policy is if you work overtime you are forced to take comp time and we are required to be on call 24hrs a day we are provided with a company phone and are told to answer at anytime to work, I want to know if I have a case
August 4th, 2008 at 1:57 pm