Overtime can be confusing. Maybe you aren’t getting paid overtime, and you think you should be. This article will explain which job classifications are entitled to overtime through the Fair Labor Standards Act, and which are not. It is important to understand why you aren’t entitled to overtime, or why you might be entitled to overtime but are being wrongfully underpaid.
The Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act, or the FLSA, pertains to federal regulations on minimum wage, overtime pay, child labor laws, and recordkeeping. The FLSA is what protects individuals from being overworked, whether they be employees or children, and what ensures that employees are properly compensated for this work.
The FLSA defines overtime as the hours worked over 40 in one workweek. After 40 hours have been worked, overtime pay of at least 1.5x the employee’s standard rate of pay must be enforced.
A flat sum offered to employees who agree to work overtime does not quality as earning an overtime premium rate of pay.
Employees cannot waive their right to overtime pay, nor can a nonexempt employee be made exempt from overtime pay contractually, and employers cannot ask employees to waive this right.
Employees hired to work over 40 hours a week should still be paid overtime for hours exceeding 40, if they are nonexempt.
See this fact sheet from U.S. Department of Labor for more information on overtime under the FLSA.
Who Is NOT Entitled to Overtime?
Though this is not an exhaustive list, EAP (executive, administrative, and professional) employees are not entitled to overtime. These employees meet three criteria:
- Paid a fixed salary
- Paid a specified weekly salary
- Primarily perform executive, administrative, or professional duties
“Highly Paid Individuals” who are paid a salary are also exempt from overtime pay.
As of July 1st, 2024, standard EAP employees must make $844 per week to be exempt, and Highly Paid Individuals must make $132,964 a year (and at least $844 a week). See the Department of Labor’s Final Rule on EAP overtime and exemption for more in-depth information.
Those with computer skills earned through higher education, such as computer scientists, may also be exempt. Commission-based employees are another example of employees exempt from overtime.
Misclassification
Because of an employee’s classification determining their eligibility for overtime pay, the misclassification of an employee may prevent them from getting properly compensated.
For example, if an individual is hired on as part of a managerial team but does not have hiring or firing power, and is regularly required to do non-managerial tasks, it may be that they do not actually hold a managerial position but have been misclassified.
Misclassification of this employee as holding an executive or managerial position would prevent them from being paid overtime when working over 40 hours in a week.
Do Overtime Laws Vary by State?
Naturally, as minimum wage per state varies (with the federal minimum wage of $7.25 being the bottom line), the actual value of “time and a half” differs across states.
As explained in our Federal vs State Employment Laws article, the FLSA is a federal act and thus applies to employees in all states. That said, states can add to the federal overtime laws. For example, in some states, such as California, overtime is calculated per day, instead of over the cumulative hours worked in a single week. This means that employees are paid more after working the standard 8-hour day (time and a half), and double-time after 12 hours, in addition to getting paid more for hours worked over 40 in a week.
Missouri, like most US states, simply follows the over-40 time and a half rule.
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