Introduction

Overtime is an important topic to understand in any industry. Regardless of where you're working there will be overtime rules based on your country, province, and state. In this article, we've compiled the rules for overtime on both a federal level and a provincial/state level for Canada and the United States.

The information that we've provided in this article is intended to be used as a guideline only. We strongly encourage you to pursue more information about the rules and rates that apply in your region. If any discrepancies exist between what we've shared and the information distributed by your official government sources, then the latter takes precedence.

Canada

In Canada, the Canada Labour Code defines overtime as "any hours worked in excess of the standard hours specified in the Code or Regulations, in most cases 8 in a day or 40 in a week." In cases where the total daily overtime hours are different from the total weekly overtime hours, the great of the two is used to calculate overtime. The current overtime rate in Canada is 1.5 times the employees' pay rate.

In weeks where a holiday occurs, the weekly standard hours must be reduced by 8 hours for each holiday. For example, the week of Canada Day, overtime would apply after 32 hours, rather than 40.

Across the provinces, the overtime rates and expectations are similar. Like the minimum wage, many provinces have opted to set and apply their own overtime rules.

Again, the information that we've provided is intended to be used as a guideline. If there are any discrepancies between what we've shared and the information distributed by official government sources, then the latter takes precedence.

United States

The FLSA requires an overtime pay rate of 1.5 to be paid to employees that exceed 40 hours of work in a week. In this instance. a week is defined as "any fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours – seven consecutive 24-hour periods". Within that week there is no limit to the number of hours any employee over the age of 16 may work, and the FLSA does not require overtime to be paid on weekends, holidays, or any other day of rest if the 40-hour benchmark is not reached.

Similar to the minimum wage, many states have opted to set and apply their own overtime rules. We have noted the overtime rules for all states in the table below. If your state is not listed that means there is no state-wide regulation regarding overtime, though the federal rules do still apply.

Again, the information that we've provided is intended to be used as a guideline. If there are any discrepancies between what we've shared and the information distributed by official government sources, then the latter takes precedence.