Overtime pay for Workers

The FLSA is the federal law that governs how employers pay covered employees overtime pay. Most people are covered employees, which means they must be paid for overtime. The FLSA requires employers pay non-exempt employees at least one and a half times their regular pay for time worked after 40 hours per week.

While that might sound harsh on employer’s wallets, keep in mind (with exceptions) the FLSA does not limit the amount of hours an employee can work in a day, or how many days in a week employees are required to work. As long as employers stay on compliance with the guidelines provided by the FLSA on paying overtime, they are generally allowed to require their employees to work as much per week as they choose.

The FLSA requires employers to establish a fixed and regular workweek for their employees. Basically, this is so employers can’t arbitrarily change the way the workweek is established in order to pay less overtime. This can seem like a disadvantage to some employees depending on their work schedule. For example, if an employee is scheduled heavily in the latter part of the week and then heavily in the first few days of the following week, it can seem like the employer isn’t paying as much overtime as they should because after the new work week starts the pay established work week starts over. However, the existence of an established work week – not necessarily that it’s the best one for the employee – that results in compliance.

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