Overtime hours are any hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek under federal law. Once you cross that 40-hour threshold, your employer must pay you at least 1.5 times your regular hourly rate for every additional hour. A workweek is defined as a fixed, recurring period of 168 hours, or seven consecutive 24-hour days. It doesn’t have to start on Monday; your employer can set any day and time as the beginning of the workweek, but once established, it stays consistent.
The 40-Hour Weekly Standard
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the baseline: nonexempt employees earn overtime pay for every hour past 40 in a workweek. If you work 45 hours in one week, those five extra hours are paid at time-and-a-half. On a $20-per-hour wage, that means $30 per hour for each overtime hour, adding $150 to your paycheck for that week.
One important detail: overtime is calculated per workweek, not averaged across a pay period. If you work 50 hours one week and 30 the next, your employer cannot combine them into an 80-hour, two-week block and call it even at 40 hours per week. You’re owed 10 hours of overtime for that first week regardless of what happens the next.
Daily Overtime in Some States
Federal law only counts weekly hours, but a handful of states also require overtime when you exceed a certain number of hours in a single day. In those states, working a 10-hour shift could trigger two hours of daily overtime even if your total weekly hours stay under 40. The daily threshold is typically eight hours, though some states apply it only to certain industries or wage levels. If you regularly work long shifts but fewer days per week, check whether your state has a daily overtime rule, because it can significantly change your pay.
Who Qualifies for Overtime
Not every worker is entitled to overtime. The FLSA exempts certain salaried employees in executive, administrative, and professional roles, commonly called “EAP” or “white-collar” exemptions. To be exempt, you generally must meet two tests: a salary test and a duties test.
The salary threshold is currently $684 per week, which works out to $35,568 per year. If you earn less than that on a salary basis, you’re almost certainly entitled to overtime no matter what your job title says. Highly compensated employees earning at least $107,432 per year face a separate, somewhat easier duties test to qualify as exempt.
The duties test looks at what you actually do, not your title. An “assistant manager” who spends most of the day stocking shelves and ringing up customers may still qualify for overtime, because the work itself isn’t genuinely executive or administrative. Certain professions, including doctors, lawyers, teachers, and outside sales employees, are exempt regardless of salary level.
Hourly employees are almost always nonexempt and entitled to overtime. Computer professionals paid on an hourly basis must earn at least $27.63 per hour to be classified as exempt.
What Counts as Hours Worked
Overtime calculations depend on how many hours you’ve actually “worked,” and the definition is broader than time spent at your main task. Several types of activity count toward your 40-hour total.
- Mandatory training and meetings: If your employer requires you to attend, those hours count as work time.
- Setup and cleanup: Time spent putting on required safety gear, booting up systems, or closing down equipment at the end of a shift is generally compensable.
- Travel during the workday: Driving between job sites or traveling to a client location during normal work hours counts. Your regular commute from home to the office does not.
- Waiting time: If you’re required to stay at or near your workplace and can’t use the time freely, it’s compensable. A firefighter waiting at the station counts; an employee free to leave and return later typically does not.
These hours add up. If your employer doesn’t track them, you could be working more than 40 hours without realizing it, and without getting the overtime pay you’re owed.
The 8-and-80 Rule for Healthcare
Hospitals and residential care facilities can use an alternative overtime system known as “8 and 80.” Instead of the standard 40-hour workweek, the employer sets a fixed 14-day work period. Under this system, overtime kicks in when you work more than 8 hours in any single day or more than 80 hours in the 14-day period.
This arrangement exists because healthcare workers often work 12-hour shifts on rotating schedules that don’t fit neatly into a seven-day week. The employer must have a prior agreement with you before using this system, and it can’t retroactively switch methods. Daily overtime pay earned under the 8-and-80 rule gets credited toward any overtime owed for exceeding 80 hours in the 14-day cycle, so you won’t be double-counted, but you also won’t be shortchanged. An employer can use the standard 40-hour system for some employees and 8-and-80 for others at the same facility, but cannot apply both to the same individual.
How Overtime Pay Is Calculated
The overtime rate is 1.5 times your “regular rate of pay.” For a straightforward hourly job, that’s simple: multiply your hourly wage by 1.5. But the regular rate can include more than just your base pay. Nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and certain commissions may need to be factored in, which can raise your effective overtime rate above what you’d expect from your base wage alone.
For example, if you earn $18 per hour and receive a $100 weekly production bonus, that bonus gets spread across your total hours to calculate a higher regular rate. Your overtime rate would then be 1.5 times that adjusted figure, not just 1.5 times $18.
Employers cannot offer comp time (paid time off instead of overtime pay) as a substitute in the private sector. Government employers can, under specific conditions, but private companies must pay overtime in wages.
What to Do If You’re Not Getting Paid
If you believe you’re working overtime hours and not receiving proper pay, start by tracking your own hours independently. Write down when you start, when you finish, and any work you do off the clock, including answering emails or completing mandatory training from home. This personal record becomes valuable if there’s ever a dispute.
You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which investigates overtime violations at no cost to you. Your employer is prohibited from retaliating against you for filing a complaint or asking about your overtime rights. Many states also have their own labor agencies that handle wage claims, sometimes with additional protections beyond what federal law provides.