Title 29

SECTION 778.602

778.602 Special overtime provisions under section 7(b).

§ 778.602 Special overtime provisions under section 7(b).

(a) Daily and weekly overtime standards. The general overtime pay requirements of the Act provide for such pay only when the number of hours worked exceeds the standard specified for the workweek; no overtime compensation on a daily basis is required. However, section 7 of the Act, in subsection (b), provides certain partial exemptions from the general overtime provisions, each of which is conditioned upon the payment to the employee of overtime compensation at a rate not less than one and one-half times his regular rate of pay for his hours worked in the workweek in excess of daily, as well as weekly, standards specified in the subsection. Under these provisions, when an employee works in excess of both the daily and weekly maximum hours standards in any workweek for which such an exemption is claimed, he must be paid at such overtime rate for all hours worked in the workweek in excess of the applicable daily maximum or in excess of the applicable weekly maximum, whichever number of hours is greater. Thus, if his total hours of work in the workweek which are in excess of the daily maximum are 10, and his hours in excess of the weekly maximum are 8, overtime compensation is required for 10 hours, not 8.

(b) Standards under section 7(b). The partial exemptions provided by section 7(b) apply to an employee under the conditions specified in clause (1), (2), or (3) of the subsection “if such employee receives compensation for employment in excess of 12 hours in any workday, or for employment in excess of 56 hours in any workweek, as the case may be, at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.” As an example, suppose an employee is employed under the other conditions specified for an exemption under section 7(b) at an hourly rate of $5.20 and works the following schedule:

Hours M T W T F S S Tot.
Worked 14 9 10 15 12 8 0 68

Number of overtime hours: Daily, 5 (hours over 12); weekly, 12 (hours over 56).

Since the weekly overtime hours are greater, the employee is entitled to pay for 12 hours at $7.80 an hour (1 1/2 × $5.20), a total of $93.60 for the overtime hours, and to pay at his regular rate for the remaining 56 hours (56 × $5.20) in the amonut of $291.20 or a total of $384.80 for the week. If the employee had not worked the 8 hours on Saturday, his total hours worked in the week would have been 60, of which five were daily overtime hours, and there would have been no weekly overtime hours under the section 7(b) standard. For such a schedule the employee would be entitled to 5 hours of overtime pay at time and one-half (5 × 1 1/2 × $5.20 = $39) plus the pay at his regular rate for the remaining 55 hours (55 × $5.20 = $286), making a total of $325 due him for the week. [33 FR 986, Jan. 26, 1968, as amended at 34 FR 144, Jan. 4, 1969; 46 FR 7319, Jan. 23, 1981]