The federal baseline (FLSA)
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, most non-exempt employees earn at least 1.5× their regular rate for every hour over 40 in a workweek. Exempt employees are generally those paid on a salary basis of at least $684 per week whose duties meet a federal exemption test (executive, administrative, professional, computer, outside sales). That salary threshold has been the subject of rulemaking and litigation in recent years — check the U.S. Department of Labor for the currently enforced figure.
State overtime at a glance (2026)
| Where you work | Overtime rule |
|---|---|
| California | 1.5× after 8 hours in a day or 40 in a week; 2× after 12 hours in a day (and after 8 hours on a 7th consecutive day). |
| Colorado | 1.5× after 12 hours in a day or 40 in a week. |
| Alaska | 1.5× after 8 hours in a day or 40 in a week. |
| Most other states | Federal rule only: 1.5× after 40 hours in a week, no daily trigger. |
| States with no overtime law | Federal rule still applies — there is no state where overtime is simply legal to skip. |
Where state and federal rules differ, the one more favorable to the employee always applies — a California server working a 10-hour shift earns daily overtime even if the weekly total is under 40.
What 1.5× actually pays
At $22 an hour, the overtime rate is $33. Ten overtime hours a week adds $330 weekly — about $17,160 a year of extra gross pay. Run your own hours on the overtime calculator, and see the take-home version on your state paycheck calculator.