These days, many employees jump at the chance to work overtime. Employers have to pay a premium -- time and a half -- for every overtime hour worked, which is a big help in tough economic times. But what if you don't want to work overtime? Can employers require employees to work extra hours?
How Overtime Works
The federal wage and hour law -- the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) -- sets out the rules for overtime. If an employee is not exempt from the FLSA (that is, the employee is eligible to earn overtime), the employee is entitled to an overtime premium for every hour worked over 40 in a week. The overtime premium is also called "time and a half," because the employee is entitled to 150% of his or her regular rate of pay for every overtime hour. (To learn how to calculate your regular rate, see Overtime Pay: Calculating Your Regular Rate of Pay.)
An employer must pay the overtime premium for an overtime hours the employer "suffers or permits" the employee to work. Generally speaking, this means that employees are entitled to pay even for unauthorized overtime, if the employer knows or should know about it.
Mandatory Overtime?
An employer is legally allowed to require employees to work overtime, as long as the employees are properly paid for that time. Whether your job requires regular overtime (for example, you are typically schedule to work 45 hours a week rather than 40) or you are occasionally asked to put in some extra hours (for instance, to work on a project with a short deadline), your employer is within its rights to make overtime a mandatory job condition.
Get Legal Advice
If you are not being paid for your overtime work, or you believe your employer is doling out the overtime unfairly, consider consulting with an employment attorney. An experienced lawyer can quickly assess whether your employer is acting legally -- and if not, what you can do about it.
