Practical guides on FLSA overtime, minimum wage, payroll compliance, and more — built on official DOL and IRS sources.
Every federal and state wage-and-hour change on the 2027 calendar — minimum wages, exempt salaries, W-2 overtime and tip reporting, pending DOL rules — with dates and sources.
Read more →Starting with 2026 W-2s, code TT reports qualified overtime and code TP reports cash tips. What each number means, how it maps to Schedule 1-A, and what to do if it is wrong.
Read more →Why your pay stub shows overtime as a 1.5 factor, or split into 1.0 straight time and a 0.5 premium — and which part counts for the 2025–2028 overtime tax deduction.
Read more →Overtime is owed per 7-day workweek, not per pay period. How to calculate it on biweekly and semi-monthly payroll, with worked examples and the payment-timing rule.
Read more →Fifteen states raise their minimum wage on January 1, 2027, New York freezes, and more increases follow mid-year. Full table with the source for each rate.
Read more →The federal exempt salary stays at $684/week in 2027, but California, Washington and other states set much higher floors. Table of 2026 and 2027 thresholds with sources.
Read more →A May 2026 DOL opinion letter confirms a salaried exempt employee can pick up hourly shifts in a non-exempt role and stay exempt — if two conditions hold.
Read more →Federal law never requires double time or holiday pay. When they are paid anyway, here is how they interact with overtime, the regular rate and the 40-hour count.
Read more →The regular rate is the foundation of FLSA overtime — and it's rarely just the hourly wage. What must be included, what can be excluded, and how to compute it (29 CFR §778).
Read more →The Supreme Court's 2023 Helix v. Hewitt decision confirmed that day-rate workers — even highly paid ones — are usually owed overtime. How day-rate overtime is calculated and why.
Read more →Owed overtime you were never paid? How the FLSA claim process works — the two- and three-year lookback, liquidated damages, the DOL complaint route, and retaliation protection.
Read more →The $58,656 overtime rule was vacated and never took effect. In May 2026 the DOL restored the 2019 threshold of $684/week ($35,568/year).
Read more →California requires daily overtime after 8 hours, double time after 12, and seventh-day premiums. How CA rules differ from the federal FLSA.
Read more →The eight FLSA violations DOL audits find most often — misclassification, off-the-clock work, improper deductions — and how to prevent each.
Read more →Current minimum wage for all 50 states and DC, with every scheduled change and its source. Includes tipped-employee rules and compliance notes for employers.
Read more →When a bonus must be included in the regular rate, and how to calculate the extra overtime premium owed. Covers 29 CFR §778.208–§778.210.
Read more →The five FLSA white-collar exemptions explained: executive, administrative, professional, computer, and outside sales — salary and duties tests.
Read more →A guide to the FLSA fluctuating workweek method (29 CFR §778.114): when it applies, how the 0.5× premium works, and which states restrict it.
Read more →How to calculate FLSA overtime pay step by step: regular rate, the 1.5× premium, and bonus inclusion, with worked examples from DOL Fact Sheet #23.
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