Michigan Overtime Laws & Calculator

Weekly. Michigan sets no daily threshold, so a twelve-hour day owes no premium on its own — those hours go into the week's total like any others, and the count that decides your pay is hours past 40 in a single workweek.

No. Four ten-hour days is 40 hours, and the weekly rule starts past 40 hours, not at them. Day length does not matter in Michigan: four tens, five eights and three long shifts all pay the same if the week's total is the same.

No Michigan statute sets a double-time rate. Where double time appears on a stub here it comes from a union agreement, a company policy or a holiday practice — worth having in writing, but it is an agreement rather than the law. What the statute requires is time and a half past 40 hours in a workweek, with no daily threshold.

Michigan has no seventh-day rule. Those hours count toward the workweek like any others, so a seven-day stretch usually produces overtime through the weekly total instead: seven eight-hour days is 56 hours, of which 16 are past 40.

Yes. Michigan’s Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act has its own overtime section, MCL 408.934a(1), which requires pay at not less than 1-1/2 times the regular rate for employment in a workweek in excess of 40 hours. That is the same weekly threshold and multiplier as the federal rule (29 U.S.C. § 207(a)), and the state labor department’s FAQ describes Michigan’s rule the same way: nonexempt employees should be paid 1-1/2 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a 7-day workweek. The Act defines an employer as one that employs 2 or more employees at any one time within a calendar year, and an employee as someone 16 or older employed on the employer’s premises or at a fixed site the employer designates (MCL 408.932). Not everyone is covered: MCL 408.934a(4) excludes, among others, bona fide executive, administrative and professional employees and agricultural employees, and MCL 408.940 sets further coverage limits, including for employers that are also subject to the federal minimum wage law. Two differences that matter to hourly workers, comp time and the filing deadline, are covered in the next two answers.

Michigan’s overtime section allows it on conditions: under MCL 408.934a(8), an employee subject to the Act may receive compensatory time off in place of cash overtime, at not less than 1-1/2 hours for each overtime hour worked. The employer must allow at least 10 days of leave a year without loss of pay, and must provide the comp time under a collective bargaining agreement or other written agreement with the employee’s representative or, for employees without a representative, a written employer plan that is voluntary and rests on the employee’s express written request made before the overtime is worked. Comp time cannot be a condition of employment, a worker cannot accrue more than 240 hours, and on request the employer must pay out earned comp time within 30 days at not less than the regular rate earned when the overtime was worked. Violating the comp-time provisions carries a civil fine of up to $1,000 (MCL 408.939(3)). The federal comp-time option covers employees of public agencies (29 U.S.C. § 207(o)), and this page does not say how the two laws apply together to a given private employer, so the state Wage and Hour Division is the place to ask. The calculator on this page shows cash overtime only and does not model comp time.

Under MCL 408.939(1), an employee affected by an overtime violation may act at any time within 3 years, either by bringing a civil action or by filing a claim with the director of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, who must investigate it. A court action can recover the unpaid difference plus an equal additional amount as liquidated damages, along with costs and reasonable attorney fees as the court allows. The Wage and Hour Division takes minimum wage and overtime complaints online at michigan.gov/wageclaim, in person at a division office, or by a form requested at 855-464-9243, and there is no charge to file. It asks for supporting records such as pay statements and hours worked, and it says it does not guarantee payment, because collection depends on things like the employer’s ability to pay. Federal law generally allows 2 years to recover back wages, or 3 years for willful violations (29 U.S.C. § 255(a)), so the Michigan window can be longer when a violation is not willful.

Usually, yes. The multiplier is applied to the regular rate, not to your base wage, and the regular rate takes in nondiscretionary bonuses, production and attendance bonuses, and shift differentials for the week they were earned. An overtime hour in a week with a night differential is worth more than base × 1.5. Bonuses that are genuinely discretionary — not promised in advance — stay out of it. The federal rules for building the regular rate are at 29 C.F.R. Part 778 and apply in Michigan.

Not by itself. A salary is a way of paying, not an exemption. The white-collar exemptions turn on the work actually performed together with how and how much you are paid, and the duties tests at 29 C.F.R. Part 541 do not include job titles. A salaried employee whose duties fall outside those tests is owed overtime on the same 40-hour week as anyone else.