An employer who requires or permits an employee to work overtime is generally required to pay the employee premium pay for such overtime work. Employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) must receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of forty (40) in a workweek of at least one and one-half times their regular rates of pay.Some employees are exempt from the overtime pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Exemptions, however, are few and are narrowly construed against the employer asserting them. Consequently, employers are cautioned by the U.S. Department of Labor to always closely check the exact terms and conditions of an exemption in light of the employee's actual duties before assuming that the exemption might apply to the employee. The ultimate burden of supporting the actual application of an exemption rests on the employer.The overtime requirement may not be waived by agreement between the employer and employees. An agreement that only eight (8) hours a day or only forty (40) hours a week will be counted as working time also fails the test of FLSA compliance. An announcement by the employer that no overtime work will be permitted, or that overtime work will not be paid for unless authorized in advance, also will not impair the employee's right to compensation for compensable overtime hours that are worked.Read More
