Minnesota requires overtime pay after 48 hours in a workweek. Federal law requires it after 40, and the Department of Labor and Industry says most businesses are subject to the federal act, so many Minnesota employees are governed by the 40-hour threshold rather than the 48-hour one.
That difference is easy to get wrong, and it matters in both directions. An employee told that Minnesota is a 48-hour state may never question eight unpaid overtime hours a week. An employee at a small employer that federal law does not reach may assume the 40-hour rule protects them when it does not.
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Two Overtime Laws, Two Thresholds
The Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act both apply in Minnesota. They are separate statutes with separate coverage rules, and neither displaces the other.
Minn. Stat. § 177.25, subd. 1 provides that no employer may employ an employee for a workweek longer than 48 hours unless the employee receives at least 1-1/2 times the regular rate for the hours above 48. It applies to Minnesota employers regardless of revenue.
The federal act requires the same 1-1/2 times premium for hours above 40, and it reaches employers through two coverage routes described below. Where both laws apply to the same employee, the employer has to satisfy both, which in practice means paying overtime after 40.
| Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act | Federal Fair Labor Standards Act | |
| Weekly threshold | Over 48 hours | Over 40 hours |
| Rate | At least 1-1/2 times the regular rate | At least 1-1/2 times the regular rate |
| Which employers | Minnesota employers regardless of annual revenue | Covered enterprises, including those with at least $500,000 in annual sales or business done, and hospitals, residential care facilities, schools and government agencies; also individual employees engaged in interstate commerce |
| Daily overtime | None | None |
| Exemptions | Minn. Stat. § 177.23, subd. 7 | 29 U.S.C. § 213 and 29 CFR part 541 |
Source: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, overtime laws; Minn. Stat. § 177.25; U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet 14. Verified September 6, 2026.
Which Threshold Applies to You
The federal act reaches employees two ways, and only one of them has to be satisfied.
Enterprise coverage applies to businesses with at least two employees and an annual gross volume of sales made or business done of at least $500,000. It also applies, without regard to that dollar figure, to hospitals, institutions primarily engaged in the care of the sick, the aged or the mentally ill who reside on the premises, schools and preschools, and government agencies. A nursing home, a school district and a hospital are covered whatever their revenue. An ordinary outpatient clinic is not automatically inside those categories simply because it provides medical care, so its coverage turns on the revenue test or on individual coverage.
Individual coverage applies even where the employer is not a covered enterprise, if your own work regularly involves interstate commerce. The Department of Labor reads that broadly. The Department’s examples include producing goods that will be sent out of state, regularly making telephone calls to people in other states, handling records of interstate transactions, traveling to other states for work, and doing janitorial work in buildings where goods are produced for out-of-state shipment.
The practical effect is that the 48-hour threshold governs a narrower group than the phrase “Minnesota is a 48-hour state” suggests. It reaches employees of smaller, locally focused employers whose own duties do not cross state lines.
What Counts as an Hour Worked for Overtime
Overtime is calculated on hours actually worked in the workweek. Minnesota’s Department of Labor and Industry states that holiday hours, vacation time and sick leave are not counted toward the overtime threshold, because those are paid hours during which no work was performed.
What does count is broader than scheduled shift time. Minn. R. 5200.0120 provides that hours worked include training time, call time, cleaning time, waiting time, and any other time the employee must be on the employer’s premises or performing duties, or must remain on the premises until work is prepared or available. Rest periods of less than 20 minutes may not be deducted from total hours worked.
Those are the hours that push a 46-hour timesheet over 48, or a 38-hour timesheet over 40. Preparation before a shift, cleanup afterward, a required meeting and a working lunch are the usual candidates. Our overview of Minnesota meal and rest break law covers the break rules that interact with this.
How the Overtime Rate Is Calculated
Overtime is 1-1/2 times the regular rate, and the regular rate is a calculation rather than the number on your offer letter.
Minn. R. 5200.0130 provides that the regular rate is determined by dividing the employee’s remuneration in the workweek by the total hours worked. The Department of Labor and Industry states the same rule.
That means shift differentials, nondiscretionary bonuses, commissions and most other pay for the week are part of the number the 1-1/2 multiplier is applied to. Minn. R. 5200.0140 lists what comes out again, including expense reimbursements, true overtime premiums, bonuses left to the employer’s discretion as to both the time and the amount of payment, gifts, pay for periods when no work was performed, and employer contributions to bona fide benefit plans.
An employee paid $20 an hour who also earned a $100 production bonus in a 50-hour week does not have a $20 regular rate that week. The bonus is part of the regular-rate calculation, and overtime on the higher rate is owed.
Exemptions Are Decided by Duties, Not Titles
Minnesota and federal law both exempt certain employees from overtime, and both decide the question by what the employee actually does.
Minn. R. 5200.0180 states the principle directly: the primary duties of the employee determine status, and only where those primary duties meet all the criteria under a particular test may the employer treat the employee as exempt. The federal regulations work the same way, and the Department of Labor states that job titles do not determine exempt status.
The standard federal executive, administrative, learned professional and creative professional tests generally require a salary basis, a salary level and a duties test. Different compensation rules apply to some exempt categories, including teachers, employees practicing law or medicine, outside sales employees and certain computer employees.
The two systems do not overlap perfectly. An employee can satisfy the federal exemption and still be covered by the Minnesota statute, in which case the 48-hour threshold continues to apply. Each statute is applied on its own terms. Our page on exempt and non-exempt classification covers how the tests are structured.
The Exceptions Written Into Section 177.25
Beyond the general exemptions, the overtime statute itself carves out several specific situations, and they are narrow.
Subdivision 2 allows an employer operating a health care facility to use a 14-consecutive-day work period in place of the seven-day workweek, if the employer and employee agree before the work is performed, and if the employee receives 1-1/2 times the regular rate for hours over eight in a workday and over 80 in the 14-day period. Both halves of that formula have to be honored.
Subdivision 3 excludes salespeople, parts people and mechanics primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trailers, trucks or farm implements, paid on a commission or incentive basis, at a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in selling those vehicles to ultimate purchasers. Subdivision 4 excludes certain on-farm silo construction paid on a unit or piece rate. Subdivision 5 excludes air carrier employees under the Railway Labor Act where the hours above 48 come from a voluntary shift trade rather than from the carrier.
Subdivision 1 also excludes employees working under an agreement meeting section 7(b)(2) of the federal act, and sugar beet hand laborers paid on a piece rate at a rate exceeding the applicable minimum wage by at least 40 cents.
What an Unpaid Overtime Claim Is Worth
The remedy depends on which law the claim arises under, and the two are not the same.
An overtime claim under Minn. Stat. § 177.25 falls inside sections 177.21 to 177.44, which means the private action in Minn. Stat. § 177.27, subd. 8 is available directly in district court with no agency filing first. An employer that pays less than the overtime owed under those sections is liable for the full amount plus an equal additional amount as liquidated damages, and subdivision 10 requires the court to order the employer to pay a successful employee’s reasonable costs, disbursements, witness fees and attorney fees.
Under the federal act, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) provides the unpaid overtime plus an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, subject to the court’s discretion under 29 U.S.C. § 260 if the employer proves both good faith and reasonable grounds for believing its conduct complied with the Act, and § 216(b) also provides for a prevailing plaintiff’s attorney fees and costs. Federal law separately prohibits retaliation for filing or participating in a proceeding, at 29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3), and Minn. Stat. § 181.03, subd. 6 does the same under state law with a civil penalty of not less than $700 and not more than $3,000 per violation.
The limitations periods also differ. Minn. Stat. § 541.07, clause (5) sets two years for actions to recover wages, overtime, damages, fees or penalties, extending to three years on either of two conditions: the employer fails to submit payroll records by a specified date upon request of the Department of Labor and Industry, or the nonpayment is willful and not the result of mistake or inadvertence. Under federal law the period is two years, extending to three for a willful violation.
If You Think You Are Owed Overtime
Start with the arithmetic rather than the argument. Pull your earnings statements for the period, which under Minn. Stat. § 181.032 must show your rate or rates of pay, gross pay and each deduction, and must also show total hours worked unless you are exempt from chapter 177. Compare the hours recorded against the hours you remember working.
Three things are worth writing down while they are fresh: the hours that were worked and never recorded, the pay that was part of your week but never appeared in the overtime calculation, and whether other people in your role were paid the same way. A pay practice applied to a shift or a job classification reaches everyone subject to it, and Minn. Stat. § 177.27, subd. 9 provides that an action may be brought by one or more employees.
Our pages on unpaid wages in Minneapolis and Minnesota employment law cover what a wage claim involves once you have those records together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it illegal for my employer not to pay me overtime?
Where overtime is owed and not paid, yes. The obligation comes from Minn. Stat. § 177.25 for hours over 48 and from the federal act for hours over 40 where it applies, and neither depends on the employer agreeing that overtime is due. Minn. Stat. § 177.27, subd. 8 also provides that an agreement between the employee and the employer to work for less than the applicable wage is not a defense. Whether overtime was actually owed turns on your coverage, your exemption status and your hours, which is what a review looks at first.
Can my employer require me to work overtime?
For most adult employees, Minnesota and federal wage law generally do not cap the number of hours an employer may schedule, although the overtime pay rules still apply to those hours. There are exceptions. Minn. Stat. § 181.275 protects certain nurses who refuse additional consecutive hours beyond a normal work period because of patient safety concerns, subject to that statute’s facility and emergency exceptions. Collective bargaining agreements and individual contracts can also impose limits the statutes do not.
Do I get overtime after eight hours in a day?
Not under Minnesota law or federal law, which both measure overtime by the workweek. The one place a daily figure appears in the Minnesota statute is § 177.25, subd. 2, where a health care employer that has adopted the 14-day work period by agreement owes 1-1/2 times the regular rate for hours over eight in a workday as well as over 80 in the period.
Can my employer give me time off instead of overtime pay?
Section 177.25, subd. 1 permits time off in place of overtime pay only for the state of Minnesota or a political subdivision, at 1-1/2 hours for each hour over 48. It does not extend that option to private employers. Federal law likewise limits compensatory time to public agencies, at 29 U.S.C. § 207(o). A private employer that banks your extra hours instead of paying them should be asked which authority it is relying on.
My employer says I am salaried, so I do not get overtime. Is that right?
Not on its own. A salary is one element of the federal exemption test, alongside a minimum salary level and a duties test, and all of them have to be satisfied. Minnesota’s exemption is decided on primary duties under Minn. R. 5200.0180. Being paid a salary is compatible with being fully entitled to overtime, and this is one of the more common sources of unpaid overtime in salaried roles.
This article provides general information about Minnesota and federal overtime law and is not legal advice. Coverage, exemptions and remedies depend on facts specific to your job and your employer, and both statutes and regulations change. Confirm current requirements with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, the U.S. Department of Labor or an attorney.
