The federal baseline every state shares
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires overtime at 1.5 times the regular rate for nonexempt employees for all hours over 40 in a fixed 7-day workweek. This is the floor, not the ceiling: no state can offer less, and every state covers at least this much.
Two points of federal law catch people off guard. First, the workweek is fixed. An employer cannot define the week as Sunday to Saturday one month and Wednesday to Tuesday the next to split a busy week in half. Second, hours cannot be averaged across weeks. A 45 hour week followed by a 35 hour week produces 5 overtime hours, not zero.
For 2026, there is no new federal overtime rule. A 2024 Labor Department rule that would have raised the exempt salary threshold was struck down in court, so the threshold stays at $35,568 a year ($684 a week). Overtime eligibility still turns on the three-part test: salary basis, salary level, and job duties.
California: the strictest overtime rules
California stacks three rules on top of the federal baseline. First, daily overtime: 1.5x for hours over 8 in a single day. Second, double time: 2x for hours over 12 in a day. Third, the seventh-day rule: on the 7th consecutive day worked in a workweek, the first 8 hours are paid at 1.5x and hours past 8 are paid at 2x.
Example: a 10 hour day at $20 an hour in California. The first 8 hours are regular ($160), and hours 9 and 10 are overtime ($30 each, $60). Day total: $220. The same day in Texas is 10 hours at $20 with no overtime unless the week crosses 40: $200.
Now a 45 hour week at $27 an hour, worked as five 9 hour days in California. Each day produces 1 overtime hour: 40 regular hours at $27 ($1,080) plus 5 overtime hours at $40.50 ($202.50), for $1,282.50 in gross pay. Under federal rules alone, a 45 hour week at $27 pays exactly the same $1,282.50, because the daily and weekly math agree when days are even. The California rules bite when days are uneven, like a 12 hour day inside a 36 hour week.
Alaska: daily overtime at 8 hours
Alaska requires 1.5x for hours over 8 in a day, in addition to the federal weekly rule. A 10 hour day at $22 an hour in Alaska is 8 regular hours ($176) plus 2 overtime hours ($66), for $242 that day. There is no double time rule like California's.
Alaska also has limited exemptions: certain retail and service employers fall outside the state overtime law, but the federal rule still applies. If you work in Alaska retail and your employer claims an exemption, verify which law they are claiming under, because the federal 40 hour rule almost certainly still covers you.
Colorado: daily overtime at 12 hours
Colorado requires 1.5x for hours over 12 in a day, plus the federal 40 hour weekly rule. It also uses the higher of the two calculations for each week, so a worker never gets the worse outcome of the two rules.
Colorado's rule matters most for long single days. At exactly 12 hours, no daily overtime accrues, so the federal 40 hour rule does the work on a four-day, 48 hour schedule. But on a 13 hour day, hour 13 earns overtime even inside a week that stays under 40 hours. When both rules could apply, Colorado uses whichever calculation pays the worker more.
Texas and the federal-rule states
Texas follows the federal standard exactly: overtime after 40 hours in a week, no daily overtime, no double time. A 12 hour day inside a 40 hour week earns straight time for all 12 hours in Texas. The same schedule in California earns 4 overtime hours and a state-law headache for the employer.
This is the rule in most states. Florida, New York, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and the rest use the federal 40 hour rule without daily additions. The practical consequence: in these states, your overtime math is simply weekly hours minus 40, times 1.5, times your rate. The time card calculator handles this with its default 40 hour threshold.
How to compute your week under each rule set
Federal-rule states: total your weekly hours, subtract 40, multiply the remainder by 1.5 times your rate, and add to 40 hours of regular pay. One calculation, done.
California: compute each day separately. For each day, the first 8 hours are regular, hours 9 through 12 are 1.5x, and hours past 12 are 2x. Then check the weekly total: if daily overtime already covered the federal 40 hour threshold, you are done, since overtime hours cannot be paid twice. Then apply the seventh-day rule if you worked 7 days in the workweek.
Alaska and Colorado: compute each day for the daily threshold (8 hours in Alaska, 12 in Colorado), then compute the week for the 40 hour threshold, and take the arrangement that pays you more. You never get both for the same hour, but you always get the better of the two.
Minimum wage is not an overtime rule, but it matters
Overtime rates multiply the regular rate, so the regular rate matters. In states with minimum wages above the federal $7.25, the overtime floor rises with it. A minimum wage worker in California at $16.50 an hour has an overtime floor of $24.75, not $10.88.
Some states also adjust their wage rules on January 1 each year. If your overtime math uses a stale rate, every overtime hour is slightly wrong. Check your state labor agency's current figures before disputing a paycheck, and keep the pay stub that shows which rate your employer actually used.