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Overtime and Minimum Wage (FLSA)

The federal floor for pay: a minimum hourly wage, and time and a half for hours over forty in a workweek, unless the job is exempt.

Informational only - this is not legal advice. These definitions explain general legal vocabulary in plain English. They are not advice about your situation, reading them creates no attorney-client relationship, and the law differs from state to state and changes over time. For advice you can rely on, speak to a lawyer licensed in your state.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of law firms for this.

What it means

The Fair Labor Standards Act sets a federal minimum wage and requires overtime pay of at least one and one-half times an employee's regular rate for every hour worked over forty in a workweek. Each workweek stands alone, so a long week cannot be averaged against a short one. The regular rate is not always the base hourly rate either: it includes most nondiscretionary bonuses, commissions and shift differentials. Where a state or city sets a higher minimum wage or a more protective overtime rule, the employee gets the more protective standard.

The most disputed question is exemption. Some salaried executive, administrative and professional employees are exempt from overtime, but only if they meet both a salary test and a duties test set by Department of Labor regulations. Job titles do not decide it, and being paid a salary does not decide it either: a salaried worker whose real duties are routine is often owed overtime. Common disputes also include off-the-clock work before and after shifts, automatic meal-break deductions, workers misclassified as independent contractors, and tips taken by managers.

An employee who is owed wages can recover the unpaid amount plus an equal amount as liquidated damages, together with attorney's fees and costs. Employees may sue together in a collective action, but under the FLSA each one must opt in by filing written consent, unlike an ordinary class action. The statute of limitations is short and runs separately from each payday, and it is longer when the violation was willful. Every month of delay can therefore cost recoverable pay.

Where this comes from

The Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum-wage requirement is 29 U.S.C. § 206 and its overtime requirement 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1); the regular rate is defined in § 207(e). Exemptions are listed in 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(1), with the salary and duties tests in 29 C.F.R. Part 541. Remedies and the opt-in collective action are in 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), the limitations periods in 29 U.S.C. § 255(a), and the rule that more protective state and local standards apply in 29 U.S.C. § 218(a).

When people hire a lawyer for this

Keep your own record of the hours you actually worked and save pay stubs, schedules and any messages about work outside your shift. Because the fee-shifting provision makes the employer pay the employee's attorney's fees when the employee wins, many wage lawyers take these cases without an up-front fee. Ask early, because each payday that passes can move older pay out of reach.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find a lawyer for this in your state

Choose your state to see Wage & Hour law firms in the city where we list the most; your city may be under “other cities”, A to Z.

Alabama (Birmingham)
+1 other city
- Montgomery
Alaska (Anchorage)
Arizona (Chandler)
+6 other cities
Arkansas (Little Rock)
California (Anaheim)
+70 other cities
- Bakersfield
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- Irvine
- Long Beach
- Oakland
- Riverside
- San Bernardino
- San Francisco
- Santa Ana
- and 58 more with fewer listed firms
Colorado (Aurora)
+2 other cities
- Colorado Springs
- Denver
Connecticut (Bridgeport)
District of Columbia (Washington)
Florida (Hialeah)
+5 other cities
Georgia (Atlanta)
Hawaii (Honolulu)
Illinois (Chicago)
Indiana (Fort Wayne)
+1 other city
- Indianapolis
Iowa (Des Moines)
Kansas (Kansas City)
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- Wichita
Kentucky (Lexington)
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- Louisville
Louisiana (Baton Rouge)
+2 other cities
- New Orleans
- Shreveport
Maryland (Baltimore)
Massachusetts (Boston)
Michigan (Detroit)
Minnesota (Minneapolis)
+1 other city
- Saint Paul
Missouri (Kansas City)
+1 other city
- St. Louis
Nevada (Henderson)
+2 other cities
- Las Vegas
- North Las Vegas
New Hampshire (Manchester)
New Jersey (Jersey City)
+1 other city
- Newark
New Mexico (Albuquerque)
New York (Buffalo)
+2 other cities
- New York City
- Rochester
North Carolina (Charlotte)
+1 other city
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Ohio (Cincinnati)
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Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
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Oregon (Portland)
Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)
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Rhode Island (Providence)
South Carolina (Columbia)
Tennessee (Memphis)
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Texas (Austin)
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Utah (Salt Lake City)
Virginia (Richmond)
Washington (Seattle)
+1 other city
- Tacoma
West Virginia (Charleston)
Wisconsin (Madison)
+1 other city
- Milwaukee

Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

« All glossary terms

Part of the LawyerLand plain-English legal glossary. Definitions are written from primary sources - statutes and court rules - and each entry states the authority it rests on, or says plainly when the doctrine is state law with no national rule.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, civil legal aid programs provide free help with many of these problems: civil legal aid programs by state.

Related free reference tools: statute of limitations for a personal-injury claim, by state, quoted from each state's official text - part of LawyerLand's legal reference tools.