The Fair Labor Standards Act entitles most employees to overtime pay at one and a half times their regular rate for hours exceeding 40 per workweek. Despite this clear requirement, overtime violations remain common as employers use various schemes to avoid paying proper overtime. Understanding your rights helps you recognize when you're being cheated and pursue claims to recover what you're owed.
Who Qualifies for Overtime
The FLSA presumes all employees are entitled to overtime unless they fit specific exemptions. Exempt employees must earn at least the minimum salary threshold and perform duties meeting the executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, or computer professional exemptions. Employees who don't meet these narrow requirements are non-exempt and entitled to overtime regardless of job titles or how employers classify them.
Many workers are misclassified as exempt when they don't meet exemption requirements. Having a manager title doesn't make someone exempt if they spend most of their time doing non-managerial work. Being salaried doesn't eliminate overtime rights unless actual duties meet exemption tests. Employers benefit from misclassification while workers lose significant overtime pay.
How Overtime Is Calculated
Overtime requires payment at one and a half times the regular rate for hours exceeding 40 in a workweek. The regular rate includes not just base hourly pay but also commissions, bonuses, shift differentials, and other compensation that aren't specifically excludable. Using incorrect regular rates produces underpayment even when employers pay something for overtime hours.
The workweek is fixed at seven consecutive days and cannot be manipulated to avoid overtime. Averaging hours over two weeks, requiring comp time instead of overtime pay, or using similar schemes violates the FLSA. Each workweek stands alone, so working 30 hours one week and 50 the next requires overtime for the 10 hours exceeding 40 in the second week.
Common Overtime Violations
Off-the-clock work before and after shifts often pushes hours above 40 without compensation. Requiring employees to boot computers, prepare workstations, or attend meetings before clocking in steals overtime. Automatic meal break deductions when employees actually work through breaks similarly underpay affected workers.
Rounding practices that systematically benefit employers violate the FLSA. While rounding is permitted if it averages out over time, rounding that consistently reduces recorded hours compared to actual work steals wages. Similarly, capping recorded hours regardless of actual work time violates overtime requirements.
Recovering Your Unpaid Overtime
The FLSA provides for recovery of unpaid overtime going back two years, or three years for willful violations. Liquidated damages doubling the unpaid amount are available unless employers prove good faith belief they were complying with the law. Prevailing plaintiffs also recover attorney fees and costs, making it practical to pursue claims even for modest individual amounts.
Collective actions allow similarly situated employees to join together in pursuing overtime claims. These collective cases efficiently address workplace-wide violations while sharing litigation costs. Opt-in procedures differ from class actions, requiring interested workers to affirmatively join the lawsuit.
Protecting Yourself
Keep personal records of hours worked regardless of what employer timekeeping shows. Note arrival and departure times, meal breaks taken or worked through, and any work performed at home or outside normal hours. This documentation proves hours worked if employer records are inaccurate or disputed.