At Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC, we find that many employees don’t know how to calculate overtime pay or what their rights are to overtime pay.
Your employer must pay you overtime pay at the legally mandated rate unless your job falls into narrow job classifications which are considered exempt from the overtime rules. Understanding your workplace rights and how to calculate your overtime means you can protect yourself from unfair wage practices.
Are You Eligible for Overtime Pay?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) states that most employees must be paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week. You are due overtime pay typically if you earn an hourly wage.
Some examples of employees non-exempt from earning overtime include:
- Commissioned inside salespeople
- Waitstaff
- Bartenders
- Manufacturing employees
- Assembly line workers
- Commissioned mortgage brokers
- Drivers and couriers
- Manual Laborers
- Most nurses and line health care professionals
- Nursing home floor workers
Hourly employees who work more than forty hours per week are legally entitled to 1.5 times their regular pay rate for all overtime hours.
Exempt Employees
Some employees are exempt from earning overtime. They are generally in managerial, professional, or administrative jobs, and earn a fixed salary of at least $35,568 annually.
Some examples of exempt employees are:
- Executives, Administrators, and select degreed or licensed Professionals
- Computer Programmers, Software Engineers, Systems Analysts
- Inside Salespeople who are paid commissions and a higher hourly rate
- Independent Contractors
How to Calculate Overtime Pay for Non-Exempt Employees
Your overtime rate is based on your regular pay rate.
To determine your regular pay rate, you take your total weekly wages and divide that number by forty (40). This total weekly wage amount should include non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions (predetermined goals or conditions).
The FLSA states that employers should pay all non-exempt employees time-and-a-half for all work performed over 40 hours per week. By multiplying your regular rate by 1.5, you can calculate your overtime rate.
For example, if you earn $15 per hour, your overtime rate is $22.50. If you worked 45 hours in a week, your overtime amount would be based on 5 hours, which is $112.50 (5 OT hours x $22.50 OT pay rate).
What Can Affect How You Calculate Overtime Pay?
- Some states have their own overtime laws in addition to the FLSA laws. For example, Alaska, California, Colorado, and Nevada have daily overtime.
- In some states, like California, you should earn “double-time” for hours worked beyond a 12-hour shift.
- Some industries, like healthcare and transportation, have specific overtime laws.
Illegal Overtime Practices
Your employer can’t change the overtime laws or enact a no-overtime policy. Yet, you may have been the victim of illegal overtime practices that have cheated you out of hard-earned money.
Here are some ways your employer may have tampered with your overtime pay.
Timecard Time Removal: Your employer may remove the time you work from their time-keeping system, and you won’t be paid for overtime hours.
Work Hour Manipulation: Overtime rules are generally based on a single work week, but employees can be paid on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. Regardless of your pay schedule, your overtime hours should be calculated weekly on a 40-hour work week. Unfortunately, employers may adjust your weekly hours by spreading them out over numerous weeks and cheating you of overtime pay.
Employee Misclassification: Employers may misclassify employees as exempt to avoid paying overtime. For example, an employer may classify an employee as an independent contractor, manager, or working lead to avoid paying overtime.
Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC: Fighting Illegal Wage Practices Nationwide
At Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC, we pursue illegal wage claims, including overtime theft and other wage violations. The legal system can be confusing if you are unfamiliar with the labor laws in your state. But you deserve to be paid all wages to which you are legally entitled.
If you want to learn more about how to calculate overtime pay or are concerned your employer isn’t paying overtime, you should contact us today for a free case evaluation.