Calculate and enforce FLSA overtime rules in a payroll processing integration
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Steps
Collect the employee's total hours worked for the workweek (the fixed, recurring 7-day period designated by the employer — not the pay period).
Identify the employee's FLSA classification: non-exempt employees must receive overtime pay at 1.5x their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in the workweek.
Calculate the regular rate of pay for the workweek — this includes all remuneration for employment except statutory exclusions (e.g., overtime premiums, gifts, certain bonuses), divided by all hours worked.
Compute overtime pay as (regular rate x 0.5) x overtime hours — not as (regular rate x 1.5) x overtime hours if the base rate has already been paid for all hours.
Submit the overtime earnings as a separate earnings line on the payroll API with the correct pay type code to ensure it is taxed and reported correctly.
Known gotchas
The FLSA workweek is a fixed 7-day period that the employer sets and cannot be changed to reduce overtime liability; averaging hours across two weeks is not permitted for FLSA purposes.
The regular rate of pay must include non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions earned in the workweek — excluding these is a common underpayment error.
Some states (California notably) require daily overtime (over 8 hours in a day) and double-time rates — the FLSA workweek-based calculation is a federal floor, not a ceiling.
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