The federal overtime provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unless exempt, employees covered by the Act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay. There is no limit in the Act on the number of hours employees aged 16 and older may work in any workweek. The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days.
The Act 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.
Basically, ehen you start your job, your boss has to pick how your week is measured, and stick to it. From that point on, any time you work over 40 hours within that period must be compensated at overtime rates (1.5x your normal wage).
So if your week is MON-SUN, you can work WED-SUN and then MON-FRI, as long as you also get the first MON-TUE and last SAT-SUN off.
But if your work week is MON-SUN and you work MON-FRI, and your boss tries to schedule you for that SAT or SUN as well, you must be paid overtime. Your boss is not allowed to “borrow” days from the following week or adjust when your week begins and ends to make you work more than 40 hrs per week without paying you OT.
If this has ever happened to you, your boss has committed wage theft and owes you all of your back pay, times two, since the penalty for wage theft is paying the employee DOUBLE damages. And if you sue to get this money back and win, your boss must also pay for your attorney and court costs!
Q. What do I get if I win?
A. Money. Successful FLSA plaintiffs are entitled to back pay for all unpaid overtime, usually beginning two years before the complaint is filed. In most cases, they are also entitled to double the amount of back pay. This is called liquidated damages, and is essentially in lieu of interest on the unpaid wages. The Act also requires the employer to reimburse out of pocket litigation expenses and pay an additional attorneys' fee award. Some pre-tax FLSA recoveries by employees have been quite substantial. For employees nearing retirement, back pay awards may increase pension benefits.
THE MORE YOU KNOW
Some restrictions apply: you can't collect after 2 years and you must be the type of employee the FLSA covers.