Minnesota Overtime Laws for Hourly Employees (2026)

The rule

	Minnesota
Minnesota threshold	Over 48 hours in a workweek: at least 1.5 times the regular rate (Minnesota Statutes 177.25)
Federal threshold	Over 40 hours in a workweek for employees covered by the FLSA. Employers must follow both laws, so FLSA-covered employers pay after 40
Who the FLSA covers	Businesses with at least $500,000 in annual sales; hospitals, residential care facilities, schools, and government agencies of any size; and any employee whose own work is engaged in interstate commerce
Daily threshold	None. A health care facility and employee may agree in advance to a 14-day period with overtime after 8 hours in a day and 80 hours in the 14 days
Workweek	A fixed, regularly recurring period of 168 hours. If the employer does not designate one, the calendar week is used (Minnesota Rules 5200.0170)
Regular rate	Total pay for the workweek divided by total hours worked that week
Hours that count	Only hours actually worked. Holiday, vacation, and sick hours are not counted
Exemptions	Bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees who meet Minnesota's salary and duties tests; salespeople who make no more than 20 percent of sales on the employer's premises; taxi drivers; commissioned vehicle and farm equipment salespeople and mechanics at dealers; seasonal carnival, circus, fair, and ski facility workers; and certain agricultural workers
Records	Hours worked each day and each workweek, rate of pay, and amount paid, kept for three years (Minnesota Statutes 177.30)

48 hours on paper, 40 hours for most employers

Minnesota's own overtime line is higher than the federal one. The Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act requires time and a half only after 48 hours in a workweek; the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires it after 40. The Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) tells employers they must follow both state and federal law, which means the 40-hour line decides pay wherever the FLSA applies.

The FLSA reaches more businesses than many owners expect: any enterprise with at least $500,000 in annual sales, every hospital, nursing home, and school regardless of size, and any employee whose own job involves interstate commerce, such as regularly calling people in other states, handling records of interstate transactions, or traveling to other states for work. The 48-hour rule decides the paycheck only for a small, purely local employer and employee outside all of those tests.

What goes into the calculation

Minnesota measures overtime by a fixed workweek of seven consecutive 24-hour periods. Once set, it can be changed only permanently, not to avoid overtime, and if no workweek is designated the calendar week is used. Compliance is judged one workweek at a time, so a short week does not offset a long one.

DLI calculates the regular rate by dividing the week's total pay by the total hours worked that week. Only hours actually worked count toward the threshold, so paid holidays, vacation, and sick leave do not push anyone into overtime.

Health care facilities: the 8 and 80 option

Subdivision 2 of section 177.25 lets a health care facility and an employee agree, before the work is performed, to use a 14-day work period instead of the seven-day workweek. Under that agreement, overtime at 1.5 times the regular rate is owed for hours over 8 in any workday and over 80 in the 14-day period. Without an advance agreement, the normal workweek rules apply.

Worked example: a 12-person landscaping company

A crew member paid $20 an hour works 10, 10, 9, 9, and 8 hours during the spring rush: 46 hours in the workweek. What he is owed depends on whether the company is covered by the FLSA.

Covered by the FLSA (for example, $600,000 in annual sales): 40 hours at $20 is $800, plus 6 hours at $30 (1.5 times $20) is $180. Gross: $980.
Not covered by the FLSA (say $350,000 in sales and no interstate work): all 46 hours are straight time under Minnesota's 48-hour rule. Gross: $920. At 50 hours the same employee would get 48 hours at $20 ($960) plus 2 hours at $30 ($60), for $1,020.
Guessing wrong about federal coverage underpays this one employee $60 in a 46-hour week, and across 12 people during a busy season the gap adds up fast. Coverage turns on facts, so when in doubt, pay after 40; paying more than the state minimum is always allowed.

How to track it

In Minnesota the first decision is which line to track: 40 hours if the FLSA covers you, 48 only if it clearly does not. Either way the rule turns on each employee's total in a fixed workweek, and Minnesota Statutes 177.30 requires hours worked each day and each workweek to be kept for three years, available to DLI on demand.

In ClockOut the weekly overtime threshold is a company setting, so a Minnesota employer entirely outside the FLSA can set it to 48 and everyone else leaves it at 40. If some of your staff are covered by the FLSA, for example because their own work involves interstate commerce, keep the company setting at 40 and, on Pro, put only the staff the FLSA does not cover on a work rule set with a 48-hour weekly threshold. Every punch is stored with a timestamp, hours total by the company's workweek, managers are warned when someone is projected to pass the threshold, and timesheets and payroll exports (CSV, Gusto, ADP, QuickBooks) show daily and weekly hours. ClockOut does not total a 14-day period, so a health care facility using the 8 and 80 agreement has to check the two-week total from the export itself.

Minnesota overtime FAQ

Is overtime in Minnesota after 40 or 48 hours?

Minnesota law sets 48 hours and the federal FLSA sets 40, and employers must follow both. If your business has at least $500,000 in annual sales, is a hospital, nursing home, or school, or your employees are engaged in interstate commerce, pay overtime after 40. The 48-hour line decides pay only for employers and employees outside the FLSA.

Does Minnesota have daily overtime?

No. Overtime is counted by the workweek. The one exception is the optional 14-day work period for health care facilities, where the employer and employee agree in advance to overtime after 8 hours in a day and 80 hours in 14 days.

Do holiday, vacation, or sick hours count toward overtime in Minnesota?

No. DLI counts only hours actually worked in the seven-day workweek. An employee who works 40 hours and also gets 8 hours of holiday pay has 48 paid hours but no overtime.

Can a private employer give comp time instead of overtime pay?

No. Section 177.25 allows time off in place of overtime pay (1.5 hours off for each overtime hour) only for the state and its political subdivisions, and the FLSA limits comp time to public agencies. Private employers pay overtime in cash.

Sources, checked September 23, 2026

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change; check the linked source.