Overtime Laws by State

Federal uniformity — and where Texas, Florida & New York fit

Across the United States, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the baseline: nonexempt employees earn 1.5× their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. There is no federal daily-overtime law, so a 12-hour day is only overtime if it pushes the week past 40 hours. Most states simply adopt this federal rule.

Texas follows federal FLSA exactly: 1.5× over 40 hours per week, with no state daily-overtime statute. A Texan working 10-hour days but only 38 hours in the week has no overtime.

Florida is the same: federal FLSA 1.5× over 40 hours per week, no daily overtime. Florida has not enacted a state overtime premium beyond federal law.

New York also uses 1.5× over 40 hours per week, but a few industries differ — most notably hospitality, where certain food-and-beverage employees have a daily overtime threshold. Verify the specific industry rule with the NY Department of Labor.

So for the large majority of workers in TX, FL and NY, the math is identical to the federal baseline. The differences that matter are covered in the next section.

Daily-overtime exception states: California, Alaska, Nevada & Colorado

A small group of states add a daily overtime threshold on top of the federal weekly one. These are the states where the calculator needs a different mode:

Example — California: An employee paid $20/h works a 13-hour day. The first 8 hours = $160 regular. Hours 8–12 (4 h) = $20 × 4 × 1.5 = $120. Hours over 12 (1 h) = $20 × 1 × 2 = $40. Daily pay = $320 — versus $260 if only weekly overtime applied.

*Nevada 2026: daily overtime (1.5×) applies only to employees whose hourly rate is below 1.5× the state minimum wage ($12.00 without / $13.00 with qualifying health coverage). This wage figure is the one annual refresh point — revisit it each January.

The truth about "no legal daily overtime"

In 46 of 50 states there is no state-mandated daily overtime — only the federal weekly 40-hour rule. That does not mean long days are unpaid: they simply count toward the weekly total. A worker putting in 10-hour days all week will blow past 40 hours by Thursday and earn 1.5× for every hour after that, including Friday's.

Some employers also grant daily overtime, shift differentials or premium pay through contracts, union agreements or company policy even where the law does not require it. Those extras are separate from the legal minimum and are exactly what the Shift Pay calculator models.

All 50 states at a glance

Every state below follows the federal FLSA weekly standard (1.5× over 40 h/week) unless listed in the exception table above. None has a general daily-overtime law beyond CA / AK / NV / CO.

Data version: 2026 pay rules. Thresholds and multipliers reflect public labor standards; some values (notably Nevada's wage tie-in) change annually — confirm with the relevant state labor department.

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