Pennsylvania Overtime Laws & Calculator

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

No Pennsylvania 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.

Pennsylvania 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. The Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act of 1968 requires that employees be paid overtime of not less than one and one-half times the regular rate, and says no overtime pay is required except for hours in excess of forty in a workweek (43 P.S. § 333.104(c)). The state regulation sets the trigger at all hours in excess of 40 in a workweek, except as section 5 of the Act provides (34 Pa. Code § 231.41). The workweek is 7 consecutive days starting on any day the employer selects, and overtime is figured week by week whether the employee is paid by the hour, by monthly salary, by piece rate or otherwise (34 Pa. Code § 231.42). For an hourly worker that is the same time-and-a-half-after-40 rule as the federal FLSA, and the calculator on this page applies that weekly rule. The state is explicit about time off in place of pay: § 231.42 says overtime hours worked in a workweek may not be offset by compensatory time off in any prior or subsequent workweek, and the Department of Labor & Industry says compensatory time off in place of payment for overtime is not legal. Some employees are exempt from overtime: section 5 of the Act lists exemptions, for example for bona fide executive, administrative or professional employees (section 5(a)(5)), and the Department says some employees are overtime exempt. Hospitals and establishments primarily engaged in the care of the sick, aged or mentally ill can use the federal “8 and 80” system, a 14-day, 80-hour work period, when the employer and employee agree (L&I wage FAQ; 43 P.S. § 333.104(c)).

Pennsylvania sets its own regular rate for these workers. Under 34 Pa. Code § 231.43(g), the regular rate for a salaried employee who is not exempt from overtime is the amount of remuneration counted as § 231.43(a) describes, divided by 40 hours. Overtime is then not less than 1-1/2 times that regular rate for hours in excess of 40 in a workweek (§ 231.41). The federal fluctuating workweek method in 29 CFR § 778.114 works differently: it divides the fixed salary (plus any non-excludable additional pay) by the hours actually worked that week and requires at least one-half of that rate for the overtime hours. When it adopted § 231.43(g) in 2022, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry said it has a different standard from the federal one, and that the rule keeps workers paid under a fluctuating workweek from being paid less because they work more hours. Subsection (g) speaks only to salaried employees.

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) investigates complaints under the Minimum Wage Act, and the Act says the secretary shall enforce it (43 P.S. § 333.109). L&I lists not being paid 1.5 times the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek as an example of a violation. A complaint can be filed online or on a PDF form sent by fax, email or mail to the Bureau of Labor Law Compliance in Harrisburg, and the form is also available in Spanish. L&I's wage FAQ says to try to file within two years from the date the work was performed, and as soon as you can, because an employer is only required to keep its records for three years. L&I words this as guidance rather than a rule, so confirm timing with the department.

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 Pennsylvania.

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.