Wage and hour law
What is workweek?
Also called: FLSA workweek, fixed workweek
A workweek is a fixed, recurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour days, that you set in advance and use to calculate overtime.
You pick when it starts. It can begin any day and any hour, as long as it stays put. Once set, you can't slide it week to week to dodge overtime.
This is the unit that matters. Hours don't average across two weeks, and a pay period that spans two workweeks gets split into its two weeks before overtime math happens.
Different employees or locations can have different workweeks, which is useful when a night shift crosses midnight into what would otherwise be a new week.
Source: 29 CFR 778.104 (the workweek standard)
Handle this automatically
Kloqk is a free employee time clock for small business. It records the punches, applies your rules, and does this arithmetic for you.
Related terms
Overtime
Overtime is the extra pay a non-exempt employee earns for hours past 40 in a workweek, at no less than 1.5 times their regular rate under federal law.
Pay period
A pay period is the recurring stretch of time you pay for at once: weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly.
Shift differential
A shift differential is extra pay for working a less desirable shift, such as nights or weekends, usually a flat amount per hour or a percentage of base pay.
General information for US employers, not legal advice. Wage and hour rules change and vary by state, so confirm specifics with your state labor agency or counsel.