Overtime Pay – An Overview

In order to understand overtime pay, you should look at the federal overtime rules that are in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employees who are covered by the act get overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 in a workweek, at a rate of not less than time and one half. There is no set limit on the number of hours that an employee can work in each week. So, you could technically work, 12 hour days, 6 days a week. But if you are covered by the FLSA, then you must be paid time and a half (overtime) for any hours worked above 40.

If you work on a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday, you are not entitled to overtime, unless you worked overtime on such days. You calculate overtime on a workweek basis. Your workweek is a set and regularly recurring 168 hours which is 7 consecutive twenty-four hour periods. A workweek does not have to begin on Monday. It can begin any day (and hour) of the week.

A company can have different workweeks for different employees or groups of employees. But an employer cannot average hours of 2 or more weeks.

Example – Employer can’t average hours over two or more weeks.

Rick is a covered employee under the FLSA. He works 50 hours in one week. The following weeks Rick works 30 hours.  Even though the average of the 2 separate work weeks periods is 40 hours ((50+40)/2), Rick is still entitled to overtime because he worked more than 50 hours (the first work week period in this example) during a work week.

Your employer generally has to pay you for overtime on the same day that you are regularly paid.

What other interesting pointers to you have above overtime pay? Do you have any interesting stories to share? I would like to hear from you.

I want to represent you if you were not paid overtime and you work (or worked) in Miami-Dade County or any city in Florida. I accept unpaid overtime cases throughout every city in Florida.   Call me at (305) 661-9977 today!

Image Credit: Dawn Huczek