Time-and-a-Half Definition

Time-and-a-half refers to the minimum rate of pay an employee making an hourly wage must receive as overtime compensation. It consists of the usual wage the employee would earn in an hour (which must be at least equal to the federal minimum wage), plus one-half that amount, or 150 percent of his wage, for each hour of overtime worked.

Time-and-a-half Extended Definition
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), any employee not explicitly exempted is entitled to overtime pay not less than time-and-a-half of his regular hourly wage for any amount of time his employer permits him to work in excess of 40 hours per workweek. There is no maximum number of hours an employee aged 16 or older may legally work per workweek, as long as he receives at least time-and-a-half for any time over 40 hours.

The workweek need not correspond directly with the calendar week, but is comprised of any fixed and regularly recurring period of seven consecutive 24-hour days, or 168 hours total. If an employee is paid on a bi-weekly basis, the number of hours worked during both workweeks may not be averaged to determine whether an employee is entitled to overtime; each single workweek is counted individually. The FLSA does not entitle employees to overtime pay for hours worked on weekends or holidays, unless working those days causes the employee’s total hours worked during the workweek to exceed 40 hours.

The right to time-and-a-half pay for overtime hours worked cannot be voluntarily waived by the employee. Individual states may have additional laws governing wages and overtime; in the event of a discrepancy between state and federal law, the employee is entitled to whichever compensation is higher.

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Last Updated By

Jenna Hutkowski | May 01, 2023