There are both federal and state overtime laws. Federal overtime rights are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1935 (FLSA). The FLSA requires employers to pay non-exempt workers time-and-a-half for all hours worked over 40 each workweek. Many states, like Arizona and Texas, do not have state law governing overtime requirements for most employees. In these states, employers must pay overtime wages in accordance with the FLSA. The FLSA provides a minimum threshold of overtime protection for workers across the country, but state overtime laws may provide additional protections above those provided under the FLSA.
The FLSA permits states to set and enforce more stringent overtime protections than required under federal law. Many states have created their own state overtime laws, including statutes, regulations and common law. State laws are often more protective and generous to employees who file unpaid overtime lawsuits. The following are four ways state overtime laws can be more protective than the FLSA:
First, some state overtime laws are more protective because they create more substantive rights than the FLSA. Alaska, California, Colorado and Nevada require employers to pay overtime on a workday basis. For example, in Nevada an employer must pay 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate for work more “than 8 hours in any workday unless by mutual agreement the employee works a scheduled 10 hours per day for 4 calendar days within any scheduled week of work.”
Second, some state laws are more protective than the FLSA because they did not adopt all of the FLSA’s overtime exemptions. For example, California has not adopted the FLSA “seaman” exemption. Accordingly, seaman are entitled to overtime under California overtime law, but are exempt and not eligible for overtime under federal law. Pacific Merchant Shipping Assoc. v Aubry, 918 F2d 1409 (9th Cir 1990). Similarly, New Mexico has not adopted the federal Motor Carrier Act (FMCA) exemption from overtime pay. Accordingly, New Mexico employees who qualify for the federal FMCA exemption are still entitled to overtime under the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act.
Third, some state wage and hour laws are more protective than the FLSA because of their remedial schemes. For example, state law claims may have longer limitations periods than the FLSA’s 3-year statute of limitations. The statute of limitations for overtime claims in California is 4 years, Maine is 6 years, and New York is 6 years. Moreover, state law claims may also provide more substantial awards or penalties than the FLSA. While the FLSA only allows for liquidated (double) damages, workers who sue under New Mexico and Massachusetts may recover treble (triple) damages for their unpaid overtime claims.
Fourth, some state laws are more protective than the FLSA procedurally because they all for Rule 23 class action certification. The statute of limitations is typically tolled for absent class members upon the filing of a Rule 23 class action complaint, whereas the status of limitations will typically not be tolled until each employee files a written consent to in an FLSA collective action. Moreover, Rule 23 class actions are opt-out actions, whereas FLSA collective actions are opt-in actions, which require employees to affirmatively take action to participate. For this reason, opt-out state law actions can reasonably be expected to have a higher number of potential class members than opt-in FLSA actions.
Our unpaid overtime attorneys based in Dallas, Texas have national unpaid overtime litigation experience in federal courts throughout the United States. Mr. Siegel has personally represented clients in wage and hour suits in at least 20 states, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.