New Hampshire Overtime Laws & Calculator

Weekly. New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire: four tens, five eights and three long shifts all pay the same if the week's total is the same.

No New Hampshire 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.

New Hampshire 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, in RSA 279:21, VIII, but it leaves out employees of employers covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). For the employees it covers, that paragraph requires, in addition to regular compensation, time and one-half for all time worked in excess of 40 hours in any one week. That is the same weekly line as the federal rule, under which FLSA overtime is due after 40 hours in a workweek at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate. The paragraph measures hours by the week and does not mention a daily threshold. It excludes (a) employees of employers covered by the FLSA, so the state paragraph does not set their overtime and the federal rule applies instead, and (b) employees of certain amusement, seasonal or recreational establishments, for example one that does not operate for more than 7 months in any calendar year. The New Hampshire Department of Labor's FAQ states the rule as time and one-half the regular rate for hours over forty in a week unless exempt by the FLSA, citing RSA 279:21, VIII, and its minimum wage page likewise carves out employees of FLSA-covered employers.

RSA 279:21, VIII(b) contains a proviso aimed at them. It says that employers that pay any delivery drivers or sales merchandisers an overtime rate for hours worked over 40 in any one week shall not calculate that rate by the fluctuating workweek method under 29 C.F.R. § 778.114. The federal regulation otherwise lets an employer use that method for a nonexempt employee when its listed conditions are met, including that the employee's hours fluctuate from week to week and that the employee receives a fixed salary that does not vary with the number of hours worked. Overtime is then paid in addition to the salary at not less than one-half of that week's regular rate. The proviso sits inside paragraph VIII(b), the paragraph that otherwise leaves out employees of employers covered by the FLSA, and the paragraph does not define the two job terms or say more about how the proviso is applied. Because the method depends on a fixed salary, it is a salaried-pay method rather than an hourly-rate one.

The New Hampshire Department of Labor says an employee who is due unpaid wages should contact the department for assistance and, if necessary, file a wage claim form (RSA 275:51, V). Its FAQ says an hourly employee is paid for all time worked, including overtime if applicable. A wage claim may be filed no later than 36 months from the date the wages were due. The department's hearings page says to start by completing and submitting the Wage Claim form, online or on paper by mail or email to the Hearings Bureau (95 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH 03301; dolhearings@dol.nh.gov). Once the department accepts the claim, it mails notice to the employer, who has 10 days to respond. Whether or not the employer objects, the employee is then asked whether to pursue a formal administrative hearing and must respond within 10 days, in writing, to request one. A wage claim is different from a wage complaint, which the department's Inspection Division reviews; if the information rises to a violation of law within the department's jurisdiction, the department may contact the employer by courtesy call or warning letter, or investigate. Overtime required by the federal FLSA can also be raised with the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, by phone at 1-866-487-9243 or online.

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 New Hampshire.

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.