Is my employee eligible for overtime pay?

Under the FLSA, “overtime” means “time actually worked beyond a prescribed threshold.” The normal FLSA “work period” is the “work week” — 7 consecutive days — and the normal FLSA overtime threshold is 40 hours per work week.

Time actually worked over 40 hours in a work week is “FLSA overtime.” Note that some jobs may use the word “overtime” differently, as for example to describe “time worked outside of the employee’s normal schedule” or “time worked over 8 hours in a day.” An employer may pay employees on any basis it wishes, provided only that actual pay does not fall below the minimum standards required by the FLSA. It is, therefore, permissible for an employer to use the word “overtime” to mean something different from the definition of “overtime” in the FLSA. That, however, does not change the meaning of the word overtime for FLSA purposes.

Laws for overtime qualification change sometimes, and it may be confusing to keep up with. Overtime sometimes has more to do with the job requirements than employee status. If you need clarification about an employee, check this guide from the US Department of Labor.