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Summary of differences between federal and state regulations
An employer who requires or permits an employee to work overtime is generally required to pay the employee premium pay for such overtime work. Employees covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) must receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek of at least one and one-half times their regular rates of pay. The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest.
Extra pay for working weekends or nights is a matter of agreement between the employer and the employee (or the employee's representative). The FLSA does not require extra pay for weekend or night work or double time pay.
Florida does not have a specific overtime law, and follows the federal provisions. However, there is an unusual section of the Florida statutes which reads as follows:
(1) Ten hours of labor shall be a legal day’s work, and when any person employed to perform manual labor of any kind by the day, week, month or year renders 10 hours of labor, he or she shall be considered to have performed a legal day’s work, unless a written contract has been signed by the person so employed and the employer, requiring a less or greater number of hours of labor to be performed daily.
(2) Unless such written contract has been made, the person employed shall be entitled to extra pay for all work performed by the requirement of his or her employer in excess of 10 hours’ labor daily.
This law has been the subject of some confusion regarding the “extra pay” requirement after 10 hours of work. However, it is important to note that the law dates from 1874, predating the FLSA by more than 50 years. Also, it specifically refers to “manual labor” performed “by the day, week, month, or year.” In theory, it would not apply to work performed by the hour.
It seems likely, given the date of enactment, that the reference to 10 hours being a “legal day’s work” refers to employees paid by the day or week or month, rather than by the hour (which was more common in the late 1800’s). Thus, if an employee in Florida was required to work more than 10 hours per day, the employee would be entitled to “extra pay” beyond the usual daily, weekly, or monthly wages.
One could argue that an employee performing manual labor today who works more than 10 hours is getting “extra pay” for every hour of work performed beyond a “legal day’s work” of 10 hours, based on an hourly rate. The law does not indicate that the extra pay must be at a different hourly rate, and in fact seems limited to employees who are paid by the day or week or month, rather than by the hour.
Thus, it seems that the state statute should only apply to employees who:
- perform manual labor,
- are paid by the day or week or month (rather than by the hour), and
- work more than 10 hours per day.
Such employees would be entitled to “extra pay” in an amount which is presumably determined by the employer, or by agreement between the employer and the employee.
State
Contact
The state Department of Labor and Employment Security has been dissolved, and the duties given to other agencies.
Regulations
General Labor Regulations
Title XXXI - Labor Chapter 448 Legal day's work; extra pay (§448.01)
Federal
Contact
The Department of Labor is the federal agency that monitors hours worked.
Regulations
U.S. labor regulations for hours worked can be found in CFR 29 Part 785.