Alabama has no state overtime law of its own. Overtime for Alabama workers is governed entirely by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which requires covered, non-exempt employees to be paid at least one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for every hour worked over 40 in a single workweek. Critically, Alabama does not require daily overtime. There is no Alabama rule that pays a premium for working more than 8 hours in a day, more than a set number of consecutive days, or on weekends or holidays. What matters is the total hours worked in the seven-day workweek. An Alabama employee can work 12 hours in one day and earn no overtime, as long as the weekly total stays at or below 40 straight-time hours.
The 40-Hour Weekly Rule Is the Whole Story in Alabama
Because Alabama defers to federal law, the only overtime trigger is the FLSA's 40-hour weekly threshold. Overtime is calculated per workweek, not per pay period and not per day. A workweek is a fixed, regularly recurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour days. Employers may set it to start on any day and at any hour, but once chosen it must stay consistent.
For each hour over 40 in that workweek, a non-exempt employee must receive 1.5 times their regular rate. The regular rate is not just the base hourly wage; it generally includes non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions, divided across all hours worked. Employers cannot average two workweeks together to avoid overtime. If a worker logs 50 hours one week and 30 the next, they are owed 10 hours of overtime for the first week, even though the two-week average is 40.
Alabama also has no state law requiring meal breaks, rest breaks, or a minimum number of paid hours for adults, and no state law mandating premium pay for the 7th consecutive day. Some states (most famously California) impose daily overtime after 8 hours and double-time after 12. Alabama imposes none of that. Workers comparing job offers across state lines should understand that an identical schedule can produce very different overtime pay depending on the state, and Alabama sits at the federal floor.
Minimum Wage Context
Alabama has no state minimum wage statute, so the federal FLSA minimum of $7.25 per hour applies as of 2026. That figure has not changed at the federal level in years, but because wage rules can be amended, confirm the current federal rate with the U.S. Department of Labor before relying on it. The overtime premium is built on the worker's actual regular rate, which for most employees is at or above $7.25, and on tipped pay the math involves the federal tip-credit rules rather than a separate Alabama formula.
Who Is Exempt From Overtime in Alabama
Because Alabama follows the FLSA, the same federal exemptions apply. The most common are the "white-collar" exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees. To qualify, an employee generally must meet all three of these tests:
- Salary basis: paid a fixed salary that is not reduced based on the quality or quantity of work.
- Salary level: paid at least the federal threshold. The long-standing threshold is $684 per week (about $35,568 per year). This number has been the subject of recent federal rulemaking and litigation, so verify the current threshold directly with the U.S. Department of Labor before assuming a worker is exempt.
- Duties: the employee's actual job duties must fit the executive, administrative, or professional definition. A job title alone never determines exemption; the real duties control.
Other FLSA exemptions cover outside sales employees, certain computer professionals, and "highly compensated" employees who earn above a higher annual threshold. Specific industries have their own carve-outs under federal law, including some agricultural workers, certain transportation employees covered by the Motor Carrier Act, and some seasonal or amusement establishment workers. Misclassification is one of the most common wage violations: many salaried employees are wrongly treated as exempt when their duties do not actually meet the test, and being paid a salary does not by itself make someone exempt.