Overtime laws by state: when time and a half and double time start

The federal rule that applies in every state

The Fair Labor Standards Act measures overtime by the workweek, a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours chosen by the employer. Hours over 40 in that week are paid at least at 1.5 times the regular rate, which is $30.00 for a worker earning $20.00. Two weeks cannot be averaged: 50 hours one week and 30 the next still means 10 overtime hours in the first. Federal law says nothing about daily hours, weekends or holidays as such, and it puts no cap on the hours an adult may work. Everything beyond that comes from state law. The time and a half guide covers how the regular rate is computed when pay includes bonuses or commissions.

States that count overtime by the day

Alaska, California, Colorado and Nevada pay overtime after a set number of hours in a single workday, regardless of the weekly total. California is the strictest: time and a half after 8 hours in a day and double time after 12. A worker on a four-day schedule of 10-hour days at $20.00 has 8 overtime hours under California law and none under federal law, so the week pays $880 rather than $800. On five 13-hour days the same worker reaches 5 hours of double time and 20 of time and a half, for $1,600. California also has a seventh-day rule: the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of a workweek are paid at time and a half, and the rest at double time. Colorado's daily line sits at 12 hours, so it mainly reaches long shifts. Alaska applies a daily threshold of 8 hours, but not to employers with three or fewer employees.

Nevada's daily rule is conditional. Overtime after 8 hours in a day is owed only to employees paid less than one and a half times the state minimum wage, which is $18.00 an hour in 2026; above that, only the weekly rule applies. The calculator applies that test from the rate you enter. Seventh-day rules exist elsewhere in narrower form: Connecticut and Kentucky apply a premium to the seventh consecutive day in certain industries.

Every state rule on file

Thresholds above 40 hours

Kansas and Minnesota write a weekly threshold above 40 hours into state law. Minnesota counts overtime after 48 hours, but that rule only decides the matter for employers outside federal coverage. A worker on five 9-hour days at a business covered by the FLSA is still owed 5 overtime hours under the federal rule, and the week pays $950. The same logic applies in states with no overtime law at all, such as Alabama, Arizona, Delaware and Florida: the federal 40-hour rule binds covered employers, which includes almost any business with interstate activity and most hospitals, schools and public agencies.

Who is left out

Overtime rules protect non-exempt employees. Executive, administrative and professional employees who pass both a salary test and a duties test are exempt, and so are some outside salespeople, certain farm workers and a list of specific jobs. A job title or a salary alone does not make anyone exempt. The exempt vs non-exempt guide walks through the tests, and the salary threshold guide lists the states that set a higher salary line than the federal $684 a week.

This page and its calculator apply the legal rule to a regular schedule. For tracking clock-in and clock-out times shift by shift, use a time card tool; the rule here tells you which of those hours must be paid at the higher rate. Unpaid overtime is a wage claim, filed with the state labor agency or the Wage and Hour Division, which decides it on the records.