What is overtime?
Generally, hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week are considered overtime under FLSA and must be paid at time and a half of the regular wages. However, some medical and government employees have different threshold of when overtime is triggered. FLSA applies on a workweek basis. An employee’s workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar week, but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Different workweeks may be established for different employees or groups of employees. Averaging of hours over two or more weeks is not permitted. Normally, overtime pay earned in a particular workweek must be paid on the regular pay day for the pay period in which the wages were earned.
Overtime is defined as work in excess of 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a workweek. Overtime also is work that is officially ordered and approved by your supervisor. Regardless of tour, overtime hours of work in excess of 8 in a day are not included in computing hours of work in excess of 40 hours in an administrative workweek. (5 CFR 550.111 [a] [1] [2]). Overtime is worked in 15 minute increments. Overtime may be worked only in increments of less than 15 minutes if the work situation is not controlled by the agency. Work of 7 minutes or less is rounded down to zero and work of 8 minutes or more is rounded up to 15 minutes.
