North Dakota Overtime Laws & Calculator

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

No North Dakota 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.

North Dakota 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.

North Dakota has its own overtime rule in N.D. Admin. Code § 46-02-07-02(4), part of the North Dakota Minimum Wage and Work Conditions Order. For most hourly employees it uses the same threshold as the federal FLSA: one and one-half times the regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a week (29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1)). The order spells out some rules of its own. Overtime is computed weekly regardless of the length of the pay period, hours may not be averaged or used to offset shorter weeks, paid holidays, paid time off and sick leave are not counted in computing overtime hours, and all hours worked in more than one job under the same employer count together. The order also keeps its own list of exempt types of employment in § 46-02-07-02(4)(a)–(n), which is a separate list from the federal exemptions. The state statute adds limits of its own: N.D.C.C. § 34-06-03.1 exempts family home care and certain companionship services from the chapter's minimum wage and hour standards, and the statute's definition of “employee” leaves out firefighters and sworn law enforcement officers of political subdivisions (N.D.C.C. § 34-06-01(2)). One difference from federal law that appears in the order's text is for taxicab drivers, who are covered separately.

Yes, for drivers employed by a taxicab company, but the threshold is 50 hours, not 40. N.D. Admin. Code § 46-02-07-02(4) requires one and one-half times the regular rate for all hours worked over 50 in a week by individuals employed as drivers by taxicab companies. The order defines a taxicab driver as an individual employed as a driver by a taxicab company where the service is a computer- or radio-dispatched door-to-door service, not a motorcoach or a routed system (§ 46-02-07-01(16)). Federal law is different: 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(17) says the FLSA overtime provision, 29 U.S.C. § 207, does not apply to any driver employed by an employer engaged in the business of operating taxicabs. Because the state order sets 50 hours for these drivers, the 40-hour weekly rule used by the calculator on this page does not match it.

The North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights says that if you believe you are owed wages that were not paid to you, you may be able to file a Claim for Wages, and it lists failure to pay overtime as an example. In a Claim for Wages the department investigates and makes a determination based on law about whether wages are owed. Per the department, the person filing must be an employee, not an independent contractor, a self-employed person or an owner/partner. The amount owed must be between $125 and $15,000, and the wages must have been due no more than two years before you file. The department also says it cannot accept a claim from an employee who already has a judgment or civil action filed against the employer over the same wages, or if the employer has filed bankruptcy. The department says smaller amounts may be addressed in small claims court and larger ones in district court. Its filing page says that after reviewing the Wage Claim Process Description, if you believe wages are due and informal resolution was unsuccessful, a wage claim can be submitted. Its FAQ says you can complete the online form or print and mail in the completed paper form. The department also accepts informal complaint inquiries about wage laws, but it does not conduct an investigation or make any determinations on those.

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 North Dakota.

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.