As a Missouri worker, your overtime pay is important to you, and you likely want to earn as much of it as possible. But you may be unclear as to when overtime kicks in and how much it amounts to. As FindLaw explains, under Title 18 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, your employer must pay you overtime any time you work more than 40 hours in a given week, not necessarily any time you work more than eight hours in a given day.
Be aware that the word “week” applies to the seven-day period in which you normally work. For instance, if you normally work Monday through Friday with Saturday and Sunday off, your week runs from Monday through Sunday. On the other hand, if you normally work Wednesday through Sunday with Monday and Tuesday off, your week runs from Wednesday through Tuesday.
Time and a half
Per Missouri law, your employer must pay you at least 1.5 times your regular wage when you work overtime. What this means, however, is that it is up to your employer whether or not (s)he will pay you anything additional, such as double pay when you work on one of your “Sundays,” whatever actual day of the week that might be. Many Missouri employers choose to pay double time for Sundays as a way of attracting a higher-quality workforce, but this is strictly company policy, not law.
Overtime payments
When you actually get your overtime pay depends on your employer’s pay period structure. In general, you should receive your overtime pay at the same time as you receive your regular pay. Thus if your employer issues paychecks every other Friday, but has a one-week lag between the time a pay period ends and the paycheck arrives, you should receive your overtime pay no later than three weeks after you earned it.
This is educational information only and not intended to provide legal advice.
