Overtime issues involving employees in the private sector are governed by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (
FLSA), also known as the federal Wage and Hour Law. States may also implement their own overtime laws. If your company hires employees who work overtime in Florida, you need to understand and apply Florida overtime law.
Florida Overtime Law Makes Provisions for Manual Labor
Florida overtime law has one special provision.
Florida overtime law states that a legal day’s work for a manual laborer is 10 hours (FL Stat. Sec. 448.01). Unless there is a written contract that specifies more or less than the 10 hours’ work, employers may not require manual laborers to work a longer day without extra pay. This applies to employees who perform manual work by the day, week, month, or year.
Aside from these provisions concerning manual laborers, Florida overtime law has no other specific regulations of its own. Consequently, all overtime questions involving employees in the private sector are governed by the federal FLSA.
Overtime Pay Requirements
The FLSA requires companies engaged in interstate or foreign commerce to pay overtime of one-half times an employee’s regular rate of pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek.
A workweek consists of seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar week, but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Although overtime must be computed weekly, FLSA does not require that it be paid on a weekly basis; it requires only that overtime be paid on the next regular payday covering the period in which the overtime is earned. If the amount of overtime owed cannot be calculated until after the next regular payday, the payment must be made as soon as possible, but no later than the next regular payday after the calculation can be made.
The FLSA does not require that overtime be paid for hours worked in excess of eight hours per day or on weekends or holidays. However, states are permitted to provide workers greater overtime protections than those offered by FLSA.
