The Complete List of Overtime Laws by State

Overtime laws, minimum wage, OT regulations – they’re not exactly topics of casual conversation. However, each of these concepts is crucial to pay employees.

Understanding overtime legal requirements is crucial to budgeting your payroll as early as possible, so you don’t end up paying more than expected later.

In this post, we detail the core concepts of overtime rules and provide a comprehensive list of overtime laws by state.

This post is currently being updated.

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Complete List: 2022 Overtime Laws by State

Important Exceptions 

For those states with no minimum wage: Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Wyoming, employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay the federal minimum wage of $7.25

States with minimum wage exceptions, and increases coming this year: 

• In California, companies with 25 or fewer employees can drop their minimum wage to $14.00/hr. 
• Connecticut’s minimum wage will increase to $14.00/hr as of July 1st, 2022, valid until June 30th, 2023. Starting on July 1st, 2023, it will increase to $15/hr.
• D.C.’s minimum wage will increase to $16.10/hr effective July 1st, 2022.*Note, each July the district’s minimum wage increases in proportion to the increase in the Consumer Price Index. 
• Nevada's minimum wage will increase to $10.50 effective July 1st, 2022. Nevada’s daily overtime applies for workers earning less than $12.38 per hour (or $10.89 per hour with health benefits). 
• Florida's minimum wage will increase to $11 starting September 30th, 2022 and will increase by $1 each year until it reaches $15 an hour in 2026. 
• Maryland’s minimum wage for employers with 14 or fewer employees is set at $12.20, while minimum wage for employers with 15 or more employees remains at $12.50.
• Minnesota’s minimum wage for large employers has been adjusted to $10.33 per hour for inflation. Other state minimum wages remain at $8.42.
• New Jersey’s minimum wage drops to $11.90 for seasonal and small employers (with fewer than 6 employees), an exception from other state minimum wages. 
• New York’s statewide minimum wage applies only in areas not governed by higher, local minimum wage ordinances.
• Washington stays the same but Seattle’s minimum wage is $17.27.
  

States with special break laws:

• Hawaii follows the Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), Child Labor Law, which requires employers to provide at least a 30-minute rest or meal period after five consecutive hours of work for fourteen- and fifteen-year-old minors.
• Iowa follows a break law that states minors younger than 16 must be given a 30-minute break if they are employed five hours or more in a day.

What are overtime laws?

Overtime laws (also known as overtime rules) refer to the increased amount of money you have to pay an employee after a set amount of time.

This set amount of time, whether it be on a daily or weekly scale, varies from state to state.

For instance, in California, the initial amount of time an employee must work before receiving overtime pay is only 8 hours. While in Kansas, overtime doesn’t take effect until 46 hours have been worked in a week.

How is overtime pay calculated?

Once your employees have crossed the threshold of their overtime pay law, they then earn “pay and a half.”

Expressed as “1.5x,” this multiplier is applied to the set rate in your employee’s contract. Unless negotiated higher, this rate will be the minimum wage.

SPECIAL CASE: OVERTIME RULES ON A FILM SET

While almost every employee is non-exempt from overtime laws, some guilds have special rules for their employees.

For example, in the world of television and film, minimum rates for most actors are determined by The Screen Actors Guild. So while minimum wage in California may be $15, the minimum amount you’ll pay a guild member is much, much higher.

While overtime laws dictate a California employee will make 1.5x after 8 hours, SAG talent only makes that overtime pay after 12 hours.

Meanwhile, unions like IATSE and the Teamsters, abide by separate pay-rate regulations of their own design. The challenge of balancing varying rules and rates is one of many reasons why you should hire a payroll company to run your payroll.

What is the federal overtime law?

Set by the Fair Labor Standards Act, the federal overtime law (or federal OT law) states that employees shall receive overtime pay after 40 hours have been worked in a week. When states don’t have set overtime laws, they automatically default to what is expressed in the chart above.

Wrapping Up

Understanding the nuances of overtime law isn’t just a way to impress your Department of Labor friends. Without knowing the rules in your state, you may end up owing your employees way more than you thought you did.

If you have any questions about overtime laws by state, or you need help determining if your workers’ payments are compliant, reach out to us.