← Business Days Calculator

Overtime for Salaried Employees

A salary does not by itself end overtime. To be exempt under the main federal exemptions you need a salary of at least $684 a week, which on each check is $1,368 bi-weekly, $1,482 semi-monthly or $2,964 monthly, and job duties that pass the test. Below that, or without those duties, you are generally owed overtime for hours over 40.

Exceptions: the level is $455 a week in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands and $380 in American Samoa (employers other than the federal government); teachers and practicing lawyers and doctors have no salary level (29 CFR 541.600(e)).

On a fixed salary for all hours worked, the fluctuating workweek, the overtime can be as little as half the week's rate: $1,153.85 a week and 45 hours adds $64.10 ($1,153.85 ÷ 45 = $25.6411 an hour; 5 hours over 40 × 0.5 × $25.6411 = $64.10), not the $216.35 that 1.5 times a 40-hour rate would pay.

Not in California. Labor Code 515(d) sets the regular rate at "1/40th of the employee's weekly salary" and says a fixed salary to a nonexempt employee pays "only for the employee's regular, nonovertime hours, notwithstanding any private agreement to the contrary." The half-time method does not apply there. On the same week: $1,153.85 ÷ 40 = $28.85 an hour ($28.84625 unrounded); 5 hours over 40 × 1.5 × $28.84625 = $216.35. That is the least the week can owe, because California also counts overtime by the day: any day over 8 hours, or over 12 at double time, can only add to it, never take away (California overtime calculator).

The 3.375 does not depend on the salary: (1.5 ÷ 0.5) × (45 ÷ 40) = 3 × 1.125 = 3.375, for any weekly salary at 45 hours. For a week of more than 40 hours it is 3 × hours ÷ 40, so the longer the week, the wider the gap: 3.75 at 50 hours, 4.5 at 60. California divides the salary by 40 every week; the federal method divides it by the hours actually worked. These ratios are against the California minimum, before daily overtime, which can only push California higher.

Salary threshold on each check

The rule, 29 CFR 541.600(b), in full: "The required amount of compensation per week may be translated into equivalent amounts for periods longer than one week. For example, the $684-per-week requirement will be met if the employee is compensated biweekly on a salary basis of not less than $1,368, semimonthly on a salary basis of not less than $1,482, or monthly on a salary basis of not less than $2,964. However, the shortest period of payment that will meet this compensation requirement is one week." Bonuses can fill part of the gap: "Up to ten percent of the salary amount required by § 541.600(a) may be satisfied by the payment of nondiscretionary bonuses, incentives and commissions" (29 CFR 541.602(a)(3)). The table counts salary only.

A check, worked: an assistant manager paid $1,350.00 bi-weekly, $35,100 a year, is $18.00 under $1,368. With no nondiscretionary bonus or commission counted toward it, manager duties do not change that: the salary level is not met, so a 46-hour week is owed overtime. The hours over 40 are paid at 1.5 times the regular rate, as on the overtime pay page. Moved to $1,368.00, the same job can be exempt if the duties pass.

Why the fluctuating workweek pays half, not one and a half

The salary has already paid every hour once. Under 29 CFR 778.114, the regular rate is "determined by dividing the amount of the salary and any non-excludable additional pay received each workweek by the number of hours worked in the workweek," and "Payment for overtime hours at not less than one-half such rate satisfies the overtime pay requirement because such hours have already been compensated at the straight time rate by payment of the fixed salary and non-excludable additional pay." The more hours you work, the lower that week's rate, so each extra hour adds less.

Four weeks on $1,153.85 a week:

A month of checks, worked: a salaried, non-exempt field coordinator on $60,000 a year, paid weekly, logs 45, 38, 46 and 42 hours. On the fluctuating workweek the four checks add up to $4,782.22. If the same salary were for a 40-hour week, the four checks would be $5,177.91, $395.69 more. Both columns pay the full $1,153.85 in the 38-hour week. Under the fluctuating workweek the salary does not vary with the hours; 778.114(d) allows only "occasional disciplinary deductions from the employee's salary for willful absences or tardiness or for infractions of major work rules, provided that the deductions do not cut into the minimum wage or overtime pay required by the Act."

The method is allowed only when all five conditions in 29 CFR 778.114(a) hold: hours that fluctuate from week to week; a fixed salary that does not vary with the hours; a salary high enough to pay at least the minimum wage in the longest week; "a clear and mutual understanding that the fixed salary is compensation ... for the total hours worked each workweek regardless of the number of hours"; and overtime paid at "not less than one-half the employee's regular rate of pay for that workweek." If any one fails, the employer cannot rely on this method. Not every state allows it: California's Labor Commissioner manual (section 49.2.1.3) refers to "the illegal fluctuating workweek plans."

Years with 27 bi-weekly or 53 weekly paydays

Some employers divide an annual salary by the number of checks in the year. In a year with 27 bi-weekly paydays, a $35,568 salary is $1,317.33 a check, $50.67 under the $1,368 that 541.600(b) names; in a year with 53 weekly paydays it is $671.09 a check, $12.91 under $684. Because the last sentence of 541.600(b) makes one week the shortest period that counts, the test is per week: a $1,317.33 bi-weekly check is $658.67 a week, $25.33 under $684, so the salary level is not met in those weeks. The annual salary that keeps every check at the minimum:

This conclusion is drawn from the last sentence of 541.600(b); the rule itself does not mention 27- or 53-payday years. The other way gives the opposite answer: if the employer keeps each bi-weekly check at $1,368 and pays the 27th check on top, every week is $684, the level is met, and the year pays $36,936 instead of $35,568. Which years have them: bi-weekly paycheck and weekly paycheck. Per-check gross on the other schedules: semi-monthly paycheck and monthly paycheck.

Questions

Do salaried employees get overtime?

Generally yes, unless they are exempt. Exempt generally means a salary of at least $684 a week paid on a salary basis and duties that pass the executive, administrative, professional or computer employee test. A salaried employee who fails either part is generally owed overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek.

Is the $684 threshold still current?

Yes. The current text of 29 CFR 541.600 on eCFR, last revised by 91 FR 27835 (May 15, 2026), reads $684 a week. It is lower in some U.S. territories: $455 a week in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands, and $380 in American Samoa, for employers other than the federal government. California's daily overtime is on the California overtime calculator.

Do salaried employees in California get overtime?

Yes, unless they are exempt under California's own test, which is checked first and is stricter on duties. Labor Code 515(a) allows an exemption only if the employee "is primarily engaged in the duties that meet the test of the exemption, customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment in performing those duties, and earns a monthly salary equivalent to no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment." "Primarily" means "more than one-half of the employee's worktime" (515(e)). If you are not exempt, a salary pays only the first 40 hours: "the employee's regular hourly rate shall be 1/40th of the employee's weekly salary" and "Payment of a fixed salary to a nonexempt employee shall be deemed to provide compensation only for the employee's regular, nonovertime hours, notwithstanding any private agreement to the contrary" (515(d)). So the half-time method above does not apply in California, and daily overtime and double time do: see the California overtime calculator.

Can my employer dock my salary for a short week?

For an exempt employee, generally no: 29 CFR 541.602 says the employee "must receive the full salary for any week in which the employee performs any work without regard to the number of days or hours worked," with listed exceptions. On the fluctuating workweek the salary is also fixed and does not drop with fewer hours, apart from the occasional disciplinary deductions 778.114(d) allows.

Last updated November 10, 2026 (America/Chicago). Rules are quoted from 29 CFR 541.600, 541.602 and 778.114 as published on eCFR (version of November 1, 2026). Gross pay only. This is general information, not legal advice.