At what rate must FLSA overtime be paid?
A. Time and one-half the “regular hourly rate.” (For employees whose normal pay is not an “hourly” rate, their regular rate requires converting pay to an hourly equivalent. There are some peculiar FLSA arithmetic rules about how to do this.) Longevity pay, shift differentials, and similar nondiscretionary wage augments paid for work should generally be included in calculating the FLSA overtime rate. There are provisions which may permit arrangements to pay for some work at a different rate, but only if the work is different from the employee’s regular job, and only by agreement before the work is performed.
Overtime must be paid at a rate of at least one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for each hour worked in a workweek in excess of the maximum allowable (generally 40 hours in a week) in a given type of employment. The employers may knowingly or unknowingly miscalculate the “regular hourly rate.” Generally, the regular rate includes all payments made by the employer, including longevity pay, hazard pay, shift differentials, and similar nondiscretionary wage augments. The following examples are based on a maximum 40-hour workweek.
