U.S. Department of Labor
FLSA Overtime Calculator Advisor for Nonexempt Employees
NOTICE: On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (Department) announced a final rule, Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees, which will take effect on July 1, 2024. The final rule updates and revises the regulations issued under section 13(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act implementing the exemption from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) employees. Revisions include increases to the standard salary level and the highly compensated employee total annual compensation threshold, and a mechanism that provides for the timely and efficient updating of these earnings thresholds to reflect current earnings data.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Overtime Calculator Advisor provides employers and employees with the information they need to understand Federal overtime requirements. The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees in the United States be paid at least the Federal minimum wage for all hours worked and receive overtime pay at one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay for all hours worked after 40 hours of work in a workweek. The regular rate is calculated by dividing the total pay for employment (except for the statutory exclusions) in any workweek by the total number of hours actually worked to determine the regular rate.
“Covered” means an employee is protected by the FLSA. “Nonexempt” means that the covered employee is entitled to the law’s minimum wage and/or overtime requirements. FLSA overtime pay is due on the regular pay day for the period in which the overtime was worked. The overtime pay requirement may not be waived by agreement between the employer and the employee. The overtime pay requirement cannot be met through the use of compensatory time off (comp time) except under special circumstances applicable only to state and local government employees.
The FLSA contains a number of exemptions from its minimum wage and/or overtime pay requirements. An employee who is exempt from the overtime pay requirements is not entitled to receive FLSA overtime pay. Therefore, we recommend you review a list of common exemptions before using the FLSA Overtime Calculator Advisor.
Nothing in the FLSA or the U.S. Department of Labor’s regulations prevents an employer from paying an employee at or above the minimum wage or at a higher overtime rate of pay. In addition, a number of states have enacted minimum wage and overtime pay laws, some of which provide greater worker protections than those provided by the FLSA. In situations in which an employee is covered by both Federal and state wage laws, the employee is entitled to the greater benefit or more generous rights provided under the different parts of each law. More information about state laws may be found through the state labor offices.
If you are uncertain whether you or your employees are covered by the FLSA, please review the FLSA Coverage and Employment Status Advisor. You may also want to review a brief explanation of what the FLSA requires and what the FLSA does NOT require.
The FLSA Overtime Calculator Advisor is one of a series of elaws (Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses) Advisors developed by the Labor Department to help employers and employees understand their rights and responsibilities under Federal employment laws. To view the entire list of elaws Advisors please visit the elaws website. To learn more about the Labor Department’s efforts to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards in place to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation's workforce, visit the Wage and Hour Division website.
