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DEPARTMENT
OF
11
LABOR
AND
INDUSTRY
A guide to Minnesota's overtime laws
STATE LAW
The Minnesota Fair Labor Standards
Act requires all employers, regardless
of gross annual revenue, to pay
overme for all hours worked in
excess of 48 hours in a seven-day
period.
FEDERAL LAW
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires some
employers to pay overme for all hours worked in excess of
40 hours in a seven-day period. These employers include:
• businesses whose employees produce or handle goods
for interstate commerce;
• businesses with gross annual sales of more than
$500,000; and
• certain other businesses, including hospitals, nursing
homes, schools and government agencies.
WHAT IS THE OVERTIME RATE?
Overme rates must be at least one-and-a-half mes the employee’s regular rate of pay. The regular rate
of pay is determined by dividing the employee’s total pay in any workweek by the total hours worked in the
workweek. An employee’s pay includes credits allowed against the minimum wage for meals and/or lodging.
WHO MUST PAY?
Overme pay is not discreonary. Both state and federal
laws prohibit any agreement to not pay overme to
employees. All rms must pay Minnesota’s overme wage
regardless of:
• the rm’s size, locaon or gross sales;
• the method of compensaon (hourly, salary, commission,
piece rate or other); or
• designaons such as part me, temporary, seasonal or
contract.
WHAT IS A SALARY?
A salary is dened as a guaranteed, predetermined wage
for each seven-day workweek that does not vary based on
producvity or how many hours the employee works. It is
not an hourly rate.
HOW ARE HOURS COUNTED?
WHO IS EXEMPT?
Some employees are exempt from Minnesota’s overme
wages. The following is a paral list:
• execuve, administrave or professional employees who
meet the salary and duty requirements of the department’s
rules;
• an outside salesperson;
• a salesperson, partsperson or mechanic for a vehicle
dealership who sells or services automobiles, trailers,
trucks or farm implements, and is paid on a commission
or incenve basis, and is employed by a dealer selling to
the consumer; and
• an agricultural worker paid a salary of at least $724.71
a week for large employers grossing $500,000 a year or
more, or $590.94 a week for small employers grossing
less than $500,000 a year.
Except for rest periods of 20 minutes or more, all hours the employee is required to be on the premises of the
employer or performing work-related tasks are counted for overme purposes. Employees working more than
one job under the control of the same employer must have all hours worked counted toward overme.
Holiday hours, vacaon me or sick leave are not counted in guring overme hours. Overme is computed on a
seven-day workweek basis regardless of the length of the pay period. Hours worked may not be averaged over
the pay period or used to oset shorter workweeks. The workweek can be any consecuve seven-day period that
the employer chooses, but may not vary once chosen.
Labor Standards • 443 Lafayee Road N. • St. Paul, MN 55155
651-284-5075 • 800-342-5354 • 651-284-5099 (Spanish) • www.dli.mn.gov/laborlaw
Noce: This yer is a brief summary of Minnesota law. It is intended as a guide and is not to be considered a substute for Minnesota Statutes regarding overme laws.
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