Overtime Pay Laws by State in the US: What HR and Managers Really Need to Know

Overtime pay laws by state can feel like a moving target.
One week, you are following the federal rule, the next, you learn your state has extra twists you never saw coming.

A generic handbook paragraph is no longer enough.
If you misapply overtime rules, you are not just fixing a small payroll error; you are inviting back pay claims, penalties, and class actions.

In this guide, we’ll walk through how overtime pay works under federal law and how overtime pay laws by state layer on top.

You’ll also get a state-by-state overview you can turn into a living reference for your HR team.

Federal Overtime Rules: The Floor Every State Stands On

For the full 2024 statutory text and details, see the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2024 final rule in the Federal Register.

Every discussion about overtime pay laws by state starts with the same statute.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the federal baseline for minimum wage, recordkeeping, youth labor, and overtime pay.

Under the FLSA, most nonexempt employees must receive overtime pay at least 1.5 times their regular rate for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
The law does not require overtime for working weekends or holidays by themselves; it applies only when those hours push the workweek total over 40.

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Two questions decide whether overtime applies.
First, is the employee covered and nonexempt, and second, how many hours count as “hours worked” in that workweek?

Exempt employees usually fall into executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, or certain computer roles, and they must meet both salary and duties tests.
Everyone else is presumed nonexempt until you can prove otherwise.

For HR teams, the trick is simple to say and hard to do.
You need job descriptions, pay structures, and actual duties to line up with the exemptions you claim.

How Overtime Pay Laws by State Modify the Federal Rule

Overtime pay laws by state rarely replace the FLSA rule.
They usually add layers, carve-outs, or extra protections on top.

Most states mirror the federal standard of time-and-a-half after 40 hours in a seven-day workweek.
However, a smaller group applies daily overtime, seventh-day premiums, or industry-specific rules.

Daily overtime means employees earn overtime pay once they cross a certain number of hours in a single day, even if they do not exceed 40 hours that week.
Some states also require double-time in narrow situations, such as very long days or consecutive day streaks.

You will also see state rules about which bonuses and incentives count toward the regular rate of pay.
Those rules matter because they change the base you multiply by 1.5 when you calculate overtime.

The bottom line is simple.
Overtime pay laws by state never allow you to pay less than the FLSA requires, but they can absolutely require more.

Common Traps HR Teams Hit With Overtime

When you look at overtime pay laws by state, the text itself is not the only risk.
Most headaches come from the way rules are applied, ignored, or half-documented.

One classic mistake is assuming anyone on a salary is automatically exempt from overtime.
The FLSA and state rules care about duties as much as salary level, and misclassification can lead to large back pay calculations.

Another common trap is failing to count all “hours worked” correctly.
That might include travel time, mandatory training, after-hours emails, or “off-the-clock” setup tasks that supervisors quietly expect.

A third pattern is forgetting to account for state variations when you open a new location or start hiring remotely.
Suddenly, your simple overtime rule collides with a state that uses daily thresholds or industry-specific protections.

The more distributed your workforce becomes, the less you can rely on a single sentence in the handbook.
You need a living document that tracks overtime pay laws by state and explains them in language managers will actually read.

Overtime Pay Laws US State-by-State Overview

Use this table as a high-level guide, not legal advice.
Before changing any policy, cross-check with your counsel and your state labor department’s latest guidance.

How to Keep Your Overtime Practices Compliant Across States

Lawmakers stay active around overtime and wage rules, especially when headlines focus on “wage theft” or unpaid hours.

New rules often target misclassification, unpaid extra hours, or industries with long shifts.

Because of that, your overtime policy should be treated as a living document.

At least once a year, and whenever you start employing people in a new state: review federal guidance and each state’s current overtime rules before you update internal policies.

You need to check federal and state guidance at least annually, or whenever you expand into a new jurisdiction.

A simple playbook works well.
Start with the federal FLSA rule, identify every state where you have employees, then mark which states add daily or special overtime rules.

Next, line up your job descriptions with your exemption decisions.
Your state-by-state summary of overtime pay laws should be supported by clear documentation for each exempt role.

Finally, double-check that your timekeeping system and payroll software can actually apply the rules you write down.
If your tools cannot handle daily overtime or different rules by work location, your clean policy will still produce messy paychecks.

Andrej Fedek

Andrej Fedek is the creator and the one-person owner of two blogs: InterCool Studio and CareersMomentum. As an experienced marketer, he is driven by turning leads into customers with White Hat SEO techniques. Besides being a boss, he is a real team player with a great sense of equality.