Are you calculating overtime pay correctly?
What is the rate of pay for overtime?
If employers use a bi-weekly pay period, can an employer pay its employees overtime pay for working in excess of 80 hours per pay period rather than for over 40 hours per week?
What if an employee works unauthorized overtime? Does an employer still need to pay for the unauthorized hours worked?
Do you have other questions about overtime rules?
If you wondered about any of these questions, read on…
Wisconsin law requires that covered employers pay a nonexempt employee overtime in the amount of 1 ½ times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked more than 40 hours a week.
Under the Wisconsin Employment of Minors regulation, 16- and 17-year-old minors must receive 1 and ½ times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 10 hours a day or 40 hours per week.
If employers use a bi-weekly pay period, an employer still pays overtime pay for working more than 40 hours per week. The employer can’t pay employees overtime pay for working in excess of 80 hours per pay period. In calculating overtime pay, the number of hours worked each week in a pay period must be evaluated each week. For example, if an employee worked 35 hours one week and 45 hours the second week of a pay period, the employee would still be entitled to 5 hours of overtime pay for the pay period.
Further, employers are required to pay for all time worked even if it is unapproved. For example, if an employee works 45 hours in a week, but was not “authorized” to work overtime, the employer still needs to pay the employee the 5 hours of overtime pay. It is the duty of management to exercise control and see that work is not performed if the employer does not want it to be performed. An employer can’t sit back and accept the benefits without compensating employees for them.
Don’t panic! If you have any questions regarding overtime pay or calculating wages, please call or email Leslie Even, lesliee@turkestrauss.com or (608) 575-3836.