If you’ve ever worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, you know how exhausting it can be, but you also know that the hope for overtime pay can motivate you to keep working hard until the end. However, you could be losing money if your employer chooses not to follow the laws governing overtime wages.
What Are the Overtime Laws for Florida?
Any hours worked over 40 in one workweek count as overtime hours. The mandated rate for most employees is time and a half their standard rate for each hour worked over 40. And yet, there are many confusions about overtime laws in Florida, so it pays to know the basics to make sure you’re getting every dollar you’ve earned.
OT Law Summary for Florida
These are the main points for Florida overtime law:
Hourly: An employee earns overtime at a rate of time and a half for each hour over 40 worked in a single week.
Hourly Plus Bonus and/or Commission: To find out how much overtime must be paid in a work week, take the total hours and multiply it by the hourly rate. Add to this number any bonus or commission. Then divide this number by the hours in work week. Overtime pay is compensated at 1.5 times each hour worked over 40.
Salary: Divide the regular rate by the number of hours the salary should cover.
Any hours less than 40 are to be paid at the regular rate.
Hours over 40 are to be paid at time and a half.
FLSA Exemptions
These types of employees are not entitled to overtime pay
Outside Sales
Railroad Workers (most)
Salary Level Test (pay over federally determined wage)
Supervisory Employee (management as primary duty)
Truck Drivers (most)
Filing Wage Violations
Contact U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hours Division
Note: It is essential to conduct your research or to speak with an attorney qualified in Florida wage laws. These laws are subject to change. You need to make sure you verify any information about wage laws.
How Federal Overtime Law Effects Your Wages
Florida labor law does not cover overtime payment. Instead, federal overtime laws cover it. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 covers federal overtime laws. The FLSA serves to provide the minimum requirements for the treatment of employees by employers across the nation.
The FLSA regulates minimum wages, child labor standards, record-keeping rules, and overtime wages. Additionally, states can add benefits and rights for workers, but they cannot take away from the rights granted to their employees by the FLSA. As a result, federal law is the state law in Florida.
How You Can Calculate Your Overtime in Florida
The work week must consist of seven consecutive 24 hour work days in one schedule under the FLSA and Florida wage law. As long as the week runs seven consecutive days, the workweek can start any day of the week.
Any employee who works more than 40 hours in a week is to be granted compensation for these hours by state laws. This is done by:
Requiring or allowing the employee to take time off at the overtime rate of time and a half each hour worked over overtime (this is for government employees only).
Being paid time and a half the normal rate of pay for each hour over 40 worked.
Who Does Not Qualify for Overtime Pay
Overtime pay applies to all employees. There are many factors at play when figuring out who is exempt. Being paid a salary of no less than $455 per week while also meeting specific criteria regarding job duties is essential. Job titles do not determine exempt status. Department regulations must be met concerning salary and responsibilities for an employee to qualify as exempt.
Federal rules govern specific industries independent of the FLSA; these industries often have their own rules for pay. Outside sales professionals, truck drivers, and railroad workers are included in this particular group. One note to be made: manual laborers are not exempt (regardless of their pay).
Understand Your Laws
If you still have questions over federal and state wage laws, you can look into the following:
Official State Codes
Federal Wage Law: The Fair Labor Standards Act
An Experienced Lawyer Qualified in Wage Law
Contact a Lawyer to File an Overtime Claim
Do You Think You Have a Case? Contact Lemberg Law for Counsel
If you feel that an employer has taken advantage of you or someone you care about, please get in touch with the Lemberg Law legal team. Complete our form for a FREE case evaluation, or call 475-277-2200 NOW. You may be entitled to compensation for damages, injuries, or lost wages for Federal and state wage law violations.
About the Author:
Sergei Lemberg is a lawyer whose practice focuses on consumer law, class actions and personal injury litigation. He has been repeatedly recognized as the “most active consumer attorney” in the country. In 2020, Mr. Lemberg represented Noah Duguid in the United States Supreme Court in the case entitled Duguid v. Facebook. He is the author of Defanging Debt Collectors, a book that teaches consumers how to battle debt collectors and win.