• Employees are entitled to overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours a week and are paid hourly.money in hand image by Bruce MacQueen from Fotolia.com
  
  According to the U.S. federal government, employees who work more than 40 hours in a work week are entitled to overtime pay if they meet the law's requirements. Overtime must be at least one and a half times the employee's regular hourly rate. However, there are professions who are exempt from this rule, such as executives and sales professionals.
  
  

Hours

• According to the U.S. Department of Labor, employees who qualify for overtime pay under federal standards must receive one and a half times their normal pay for the hours worked beyond 40 hours in a work week. For employees working on the weekends, during holidays or normal days off, federal law does not require employers to pay special overtime pay for those specific days if employees fall short of 40 hours during their normal work week. Work weeks do not have to be Monday through Friday. According to the Department of Labor, a work week can begin any day of the week. Employers are not allowed to average hours over the course of two weeks in order to reduce the number of overtime hours an employee worked.
  
  

Stipulations

• There are other stipulations an employer must follow as well when adhering to federal overtime laws. Employers are not permitted to pay a regular hourly rate that is less than what the federal government has ruled the minimum wage. Minimum wages change throughout time, with inflation and costs of living taken into account. Regular rates of pay cannot include bonuses or other expenses such as gas mileage.
  
  If an employee works two types of job that are paid different rates, but are both worked under one employer, the employer must add the pay from those rates together and divide by how many hours the employee worked at both jobs. The employer would then pay one and a half times that computed rate for any hours worked beyond 40 hours a week.
  
  

Exemptions

• Certain professions are exempt under federal law from overtime pay. Some of these professions include sales professionals, executives, and salaried employees who make more than $455 a week. Police and firefighters, as well as employees who work in nursing homes and hospitals, may also be exempt under certain conditions. Firefighters, for example, may have a contract between their city and union that states they work 24 hours on duty and 48 hours off duty. This may cause a firefighter to work 48 hours in a work week, but their contract may state none of the 48 hours is considered overtime unless the firefighter works beyond her scheduled shift.