The overtime trigger
Under 29 U.S.C. 207(a)(1), a covered non-exempt employee earns overtime for a workweek longer than 40 hours.
- The FLSA has no daily overtime rule, and weekend work is not a trigger.
- Four 10-hour days total exactly 40 hours, so 0 overtime hours are owed. Trap: counting 2 extra hours a day for 8 hours of overtime applies a daily test the FLSA does not have.
The workweek stands alone
DOL WHD Fact Sheet #23 defines the workweek as a fixed, regularly recurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It may begin on any day and at any hour, so it need not match the Sunday-to-Saturday calendar week.
A biweekly or semimonthly pay period is not a workweek, and hours may never be averaged across weeks.
The overtime rate
Overtime is at least 1.5 times the employee's regular rate (29 U.S.C. 207(a)(1)). 29 CFR 778.107 adds that when the regular rate is higher than the minimum wage, overtime must be at least 1.5 times that higher rate.
- A foreman at $24.00 gets at least 1.5 × $24.00 = $36.00 per overtime hour.
- Trap: 1.5 × $7.25 = $10.875 bases overtime on the minimum wage, which 29 CFR 778.107 forbids.
- Double time exceeds the requirement; adding $7.25 to the regular rate has no basis.
Working the pay
- $20.00 per hour, 46 hours: 40 × $20.00 = $800.00, plus 6 × $30.00 = $180.00, for $980.00. Paying all 46 hours at $30.00 ($1,380.00) or all at straight time ($920.00) is wrong.
- $18.00 per hour, 50 hours then 30 hours: week 1 is 40 × $18.00 = $720.00 plus 10 × $27.00 = $270.00, for $990.00; week 2 is 30 × $18.00 = $540.00. Total $1,530.00. Averaging to 80 × $18.00 = $1,440.00 is the error Fact Sheet #23 prohibits.