Business Management Overtime Laws by State — Guide for 2024
Overtime in the US in most cases means when an employee works beyond their usual working hours. Now, the federal government regulates overtime in the US — but there are certain exemptions to the rules, and certain states have their overtime laws and regulations, too.
To ensure you’re fully protected from overworking and being improperly compensated for hours worked, you need to understand overtime laws on both the federal and state levels.
This article covers:
- Definition of overtime laws,
- Federal overtime regulations,
- Overtime laws by state for 2024, and
- Additional overtime provisions.
*Note: The information regarding overtime laws and regulations in the US has been checked and updated for 2024.
Table of Contents
What are overtime laws?
Overtime laws are rules that determine payment, limits to working hours, and other types of regulations regarding the hours worked beyond the regular workweek or workday.
In most states, a regular workweek consists of 40 hours of work within 168 consecutive hours.
Under federal law, eligible employees in the US are entitled to overtime pay of time and a half their regular pay for each hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek.
As for statistics, on average, Americans spend more than 8 hours a day working — 8 hours and 30 minutes, to be exact. So, overtime is a regular occurrence for most US workers.
Overtime laws ensure workers are properly reimbursed for working longer hours. Overtime regulations protect workers from being overworked and underpaid.
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Overtime laws by state
The following table shows US overtime laws by state.
It contains information on whether a specific state has its own overtime law or relies completely on federal regulations. Moreover, the table shows daily or weekly limits set for regular working hours.
Every hour worked above the daily or weekly limit set counts as overtime.
| State | State overtime law | Daily limit for regular working hours | Weekly limit for regular working hours | Overtime rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Alaska | Yes | 8 hours | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Arizona | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Arkansas | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| California | Yes | 8 hours/12 hours (the hourly rate doubles – exceptions may apply for certain employees in the healthcare industry, camp counselors, etc) | 40 hours/6-day workweek | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate for hours worked beyond 8 hours during the first 6 days of work, 2 times the regular rate after 12 hours of work; 1.5 times the regular hourly rate for the first 8 hours worked on the 7th consecutive day and 2 times the regular rate after 8 hours of work |
| Colorado | Yes | 12 hours | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Connecticut | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Delaware | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| District of Columbia | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Florida | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Georgia | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Hawaii | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Idaho | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Illinois | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Indiana | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Iowa | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Kansas | Yes | No limit set | 46 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Kentucky | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours / 6-day workweek | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Louisiana | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Maine | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Maryland | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours (48 hours and 60 hours for specific groups of workers) | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Massachusetts | Yes | 8 hours | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Michigan | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Minnesota | Yes | No limit set | 48 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Mississippi | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Missouri | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Montana | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Nebraska | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Nevada | Yes | 8 hours | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| New Hampshire | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| New Jersey | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| New Mexico | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| New York | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours (minimum salary for eligibility is different in New York City, Long Island and Westchester) / 60 hours (farm workers) | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| North Carolina | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| North Dakota | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Ohio | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Oklahoma | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Oregon | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours (10-hour rule applies to employees working in seafood processing industries, canneries, driers, etc.) | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Pennsylvania | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Rhode Island | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| South Carolina | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| South Dakota | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Tennessee | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Texas | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Utah | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Vermont | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Virginia | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Washington | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| West Virginia | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Wisconsin | Yes | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Wyoming | No | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
Overtime laws for US territories
The table below shows info on overtime laws for permanently inhabited US territories.
| State | Daily overtime hours | Weekly overtime hours | Overtime rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Samoa | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Guam | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Northern Mariana Islands | No limit set | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Puerto Rico | 8 hours | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
| Virgin Islands | 8 hours | 40 hours | 1.5 times the regular hourly rate |
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All US states have a weekly overtime limit, meaning that an employee can work more than 8 hours on some days and they still won’t be paid overtime if their weekly number of hours worked is below the limit.
However, some states, such as Alaska, California, Colorado, and Nevada, have limits on the number of hours an employee works in a day before their time is calculated as overtime. So, even if employees work fewer hours than their weekly limit, any hour worked beyond 8 hours a day is considered overtime.
Furthermore, certain states regulate the number of days a regular workweek consists of. For instance, in California and Kentucky, a workweek consists of 6 consecutive days. Every hour worked on the 7th consecutive day counts as overtime. If an employee works on the 7th consecutive day, their work is considered overtime regardless of the number of hours they worked on the days prior.
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What are the federal overtime laws?
According to the FLSA overtime regulations, all covered employees have to receive pay for overtime work. Federal regulations define overtime as time worked over 40 hours during a workweek.
The rate for overtime is one and a half times the regular hourly pay rate:
Hourly rate x 1.5 = overtime rate
FLSA covers employees working in the following organizations:
- Companies with sales volume or business done of at least $500,000, and
- Businesses providing medical or nursing care, hospitals, schools, and government agencies.
Furthermore, workers involved in interstate commerce and domestic service employees are also covered by the FLSA.
Who is exempt from overtime pay in the US?
Exempt employees are those who are ineligible for overtime pay even if they work beyond the weekly or daily overtime hours cap.
The FLSA also has an extensive list of exemptions regarding the coverage of employees.
Most overtime exemptions fall under these categories:
- Executive exemption,
- Administrative exemption,
- Professional exemption,
- Computer employee exemption,
- Outside sales exemption,
- Blue-Collar workers, and
- Highly compensated employees.
For each exemption category, the FLSA further defines requirements that must be met for an employee to be considered exempt. The requirements mainly include the type of job performed, job duties, and salary level. However, for more specifics on each exemption category it’s always best to consult with the official FLSA website.
FAQs about US overtime laws
In case you’re still wondering about specifics regarding overtime, we’ve compiled some of the most frequently asked questions on overtime laws and answered them for you.
1. When did overtime start in the USA?
The first official overtime regulation on the federal level came with the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The act came into effect in 1938 and it contained provisions on minimum wage, child labor, and overtime pay.
Initially, the FLSA defined overtime as any hours worked above a 44-hour workweek. Two years later, the FLSA issued an amendment reducing the limit to a 40-hour per week.
In fact, over the years, the FLSA overtime regulations were amended multiple times. The amendments mainly changed overtime exemptions — particularly the ones concerning salary levels for exempt employees.
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Read our comprehensive text on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and find out everything there is to know about it:
2. What states have the best overtime laws?
Overtime laws are similar in most states since most of them follow the FLSA 40-hour rule. However, some states have introduced their own state regulations on daily and weekly overtime — making their overtime conditions better than in other states.
In states with weekly overtime rules only, workers could work however many hours in a day is required, and they still wouldn’t be reimbursed for overtime if their weekly hours worked didn’t add up to more than 40 hours.
By setting daily overtime regulations, these states have ensured their workers are adequately compensated for each hour worked beyond their regular working hours.
States with daily overtime rules are:
- Alaska,
- California,
- Colorado,
- Massachusetts, and
- Nevada.
3. How to determine whether state or federal overtime laws apply?
Defense attorney and partner at Schmidt and Clark LLP, Mike Schmidt, explains that the federal law applies to FLSA-covered employees:
“Generally, it depends on two main factors: the type of work you do and your employer’s annual revenue. If your job involves activities like interstate commerce, production of goods for interstate commerce, or if you work for a company with an annual revenue of at least $500,000, then federal overtime laws, outlined in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), are likely to apply.”
Schmidt adds that, in case an employee isn’t covered by the FLSA or lives in a state with its own overtime regulations, they have to look into the state law as these regulations might be more favorable:
“Some states have their own overtime laws that might be more generous to employees than federal laws. For instance, California has daily overtime laws, which means you could be entitled to overtime pay if you work more than a certain number of hours in a single day, regardless of your weekly total.”
4. How does overtime work in California?
In California, hours worked beyond 8 hours a day are considered overtime. The overtime rate per hour is 1.5 times the regular hourly rate for work beyond 8 hours and up to (and including) 12 hours a day.
Moreover, if an employee works 12 hours or more a day, their overtime rate is 2 times the regular hourly rate after 12 hours of work.
In addition, the regular workweek consists of 6 days in California, meaning that working on the 7th consecutive day counts as overtime.
The first 8 hours worked on the 7th day are paid 1.5 times the regular hourly rate, while hours worked beyond 8 hours are compensated at 2 times the regular hourly rate.
5. How is overtime calculated based on federal regulations?
On the federal level, every hour beyond the 40-hour workweek is reimbursed at the rate of 1.5 times the regular hourly rate.
Let’s say your hourly rate is $30, and you worked 42 hours during a week. That’s 40 regular working hours and 2 additional hours of overtime tracked. Your weekly pay for regular hours worked will be:
$30 x 40 hours of regular work = $1,200
And your pay for overtime is:
$30 x 1.5 (the overtime rate) x 2 hours of overtime = $90
So, your total earnings for that week will be:
$1,200 + $90 = $1,290
Overtime work is calculated differently in states that allow a longer regular workweek (above 40 hours), such as Kansas and Minnesota. Moreover, in states with daily overtime, you should also be mindful of the hours worked during the day.
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For a more detailed explanation of calculating overtime, refer to the following article:
6. How to calculate overtime in states with daily overtime?
In states with daily overtime, any hour worked beyond 8 or 12 hours per day (depending on the state) is considered overtime. This means employees can be paid for overtime even if they don’t work more than 40 hours during the week.
Let’s assume that an employee in Nevada who is paid an hourly rate of $40 worked 8 hours on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, 10 hours on Thursday, and 6 hours on Friday.
Their hours worked during the week are:
8 hours x 3 days + 10 hours + 6 hours = 40 hours
So, looking at the weekly overtime limit in Nevada only, we might conclude that this employee isn’t eligible for overtime pay, as they didn’t work more than 40 hours during the week.
However, Nevada’s overtime regulations include daily overtime with the limit set to 8 hours a day. This employee worked 10 hours on Thursday, which means they worked 2 hours overtime and are eligible for overtime pay.
So, we’ll calculate their weekly pay by first adding up regular hours worked:
8 hours x 4 (Mon-Thu) + 6 hours (Fri) = 38 hours
Their pay for regular hours worked is:
38 hours x $40 = $1,520
Then, we should add the overtime. The overtime hourly pay for this worker is:
$40 x 1.5 = $60
An employee worked 2 hours of overtime on Thursday:
2 hours x $60 = $120
Their weekly earnings are:
$1,520 + $120 = $1,640
So, this employee earned a total of $1,640 during the week in question.
7. How much overtime is too much?
Federal regulations do not impose a limit on the overtime hours an employee aged 16 or above can work.
However, certain states have regulations that limit the number of working days in a week to 6. These states are:
- Illinois,
- New York (for certain occupations),
- Wisconsin (minors and workers in factory and retail establishments), and
- California (with exceptions).
Furthermore, in California, workers have the right to refuse to work more than 72 hours a week without being sanctioned.
In addition, in Maine, employees can’t work for more than 80 hours of overtime in a consecutive period of 2 weeks.
8. Is overtime mandatory in the US?
Overtime work is not mandatory in the United States. But, reimbursing workers properly for working overtime is mandatory, according to the federal overtime law.
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9. Is unpaid overtime illegal in the US?
Yes, it is illegal not to pay the overtime rate to a US employee who worked overtime in a specific week.
This regulation, however, applies only to covered, non-exempt employees.
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10. Do salaried employees get overtime in the US?
Most salaried employees in the United States fall under overtime exemptions. This means that they’re excluded from the federal overtime regulations and not eligible for overtime pay.
However, as of August 2023, most salaried white-collar workers (executive, administrative, professional, and outside sales employees) who make less than $684 per week, which is $35,500 yearly before taxes, are eligible for overtime pay.
→ Note: This is just an informatory text. For more information on exemption categories and criteria, visit the official FLSA website.
Free employee overtime tracker
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Overtime laws by state — conclusion and disclaimer
Hopefully, our guide helped you understand federal and state overtime laws in the United States.
You can get more information on overtime laws for each state by following the official links:
- Provided as sources at the end of this article, and
- Used as sources in the State Labor Laws.
Please bear in mind — this article was written in Q1 of 2024. Thus, it may not include changes introduced after it was published.
We strongly advise you to consult the appropriate institutions and/or certified representatives before acting on any legal matters.
Clockify is not responsible for any losses or risks incurred should this guide be used without legal guidance.
You and your team can track both work hours and overtime by using a time tracking app Clockify. Whether you prefer a real-time tracker, manual timesheets, or a clock-in and clock-out system, Clockify makes sure time tracking aligns with your needs and preferences.
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Sources for the tables:
US states:
- Alabama Department of Revenue
- Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development
- Arizona State Legislature
- Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing
- BOLI Oregon
- Colorado Department of Labor and Employment
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Connecticut Department of Labor
- Delaware Department of Human Resources
- DOL Georgia
- Guide to Idaho Labor Laws
- Illinois Department of Labor
- Indiana State Personnel Department
- Iowa Department of Administrative Services
- Kansas Department of Labor
- Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet
- Louisiana State Civil Service
- Maine Legislature
- Maryland Department of Labor
- Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity
- Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry
- Mississippi Department of Employment Security
- Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
- Montana Department of Labor and Industry
- Nebraska Department of Labor
- Nevada Department of Business & Industry
- New Hampshire Department of Labor
- New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development
- New Mexico Courts
- New York State Attorney General
- North Carolina Department of Labor
- North Dakota Wage & Hour Questions
- Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia
- Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules
- Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry
- University of South Carolina: Minimum Wage and Overtime Compensation
- South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation
- State of California Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
- State of Hawaii Wage Standards Division
- State of Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services
- State of Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training
- Tennessee Department of Human Resources
- Texas Government Code
- The Florida Senate
- Utah State Legislature
- Vermont Department of Labor
- Virginia Legislative Information System
- Washington State Department of Labor & Industries
- West Virginia Division of Labor
- Wisconsin Prevailing Wage Laws
- Wyoming Workforce Services
US territories:
