Tennessee Overtime Laws for Hourly Employees (2026)

The rule

	Tennessee
Weekly threshold	Over 40 hours worked in a workweek (a fixed, recurring 168-hour period)
Daily threshold	None. A long day is not overtime unless the week passes 40 hours
Rate	At least 1.5 times the employee's regular rate of pay for the hours over 40
Who is covered	Nonexempt employees of covered employers under the federal FLSA
Common exemptions	Executive, administrative, professional, and outside sales employees who meet the federal duties and salary tests
Tennessee rule	Tennessee has no separate overtime statute for private employers. The federal rule is the rule.

What the federal rule requires

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires covered, nonexempt employees to be paid at least time and a half their regular rate for every hour worked over 40 in a workweek. The workweek is a fixed, regularly recurring period of seven consecutive 24-hour days; it can start on any day, but it cannot move around to avoid overtime.

There is no daily overtime under federal law. Work on a weekend, holiday, or night shift is paid at the regular rate unless the week's hours go past 40. The FLSA also sets no limit on how many hours an employee 16 or older may work in a week.

The regular rate is not always the hourly wage. Nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions are folded in before the 1.5 multiplier is applied, which is why a bonus paid in a week with overtime raises the overtime rate for that week.

What Tennessee law does and does not add

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development lists overtime, minimum wage, off-the-clock hours, and travel pay among the issues it does not regulate, and refers them to the U.S. Department of Labor. That leaves the FLSA as the overtime rule for Tennessee employers: no daily threshold, no seventh-day rule, and no state overtime remedy.

What Tennessee does regulate is the paycheck around the overtime. Its Wage Regulations Act requires paydays at least once a month and final pay by the next regular payday or 21 days after the employee leaves, whichever is later. It also requires a 30-minute unpaid break for anyone scheduled to work 6 consecutive hours, and that break matters for overtime: if the employee works through it, federal rules make the time paid, and it can push the week past 40.

Worked example: a 15-person landscaping company

A crew member paid $18 an hour works four 10-hour days and a 6-hour Friday: 46 punched hours in the workweek. The crew meets at the shop each morning and rides together to the first property, a 30-minute drive.

The 10-hour days earn nothing extra on their own; Tennessee has no daily overtime.
40 hours at $18: $720. 6 hours at $27 (1.5 times $18): $162. Gross: $882.
Because the crew reports to the shop first, the ride from the shop to the first property is part of the workday under federal rules. If the crew clocks in only on arrival, 30 minutes a day for 5 days is 2.5 hours missing from the record.
Those 2.5 hours all land above 40, so they are owed at $27: $67.50 for the week, and the true total is 48.5 hours.

How to track it

With no daily trigger, the number that matters is each employee's running total inside the workweek you set. The usual gaps are small: travel between job sites, setup before the first job, and a 30-minute meal break that was not really work-free. Tennessee requires that break on shifts scheduled for 6 hours or more, so it shows up on most timesheets and has to be recorded accurately.

ClockOut stores every punch with a timestamp, totals hours by the company's workweek, and warns managers when someone is projected to pass 40 hours before the week ends. GPS geofences tie punches to the job site, and timesheets and payroll exports (CSV, Gusto, ADP, QuickBooks) carry the daily and weekly hours payroll needs.

Tennessee overtime FAQ

Does Tennessee have daily overtime?

No. Tennessee follows the federal FLSA, which counts overtime by the workweek only. A 12-hour shift is paid at the regular rate unless the employee's total for that week goes past 40 hours.

Do paid holidays, PTO, or sick days count toward the 40 hours?

No. Only hours actually worked count toward the federal 40-hour threshold. An employee who works 36 hours and takes 8 hours of paid holiday has 44 paid hours but no overtime, unless your own policy promises otherwise.

Can I give comp time instead of paying overtime?

Not in the private sector. Comp time in place of overtime pay is available only to public agencies under the FLSA. A private employer can adjust hours within the same workweek to keep the total at or under 40, but once the week is over the overtime is owed in cash.

Can employees waive overtime or agree to a flat weekly pay?

No. Overtime cannot be waived by agreement, and an announcement that unapproved overtime will not be paid does not cancel the obligation. Employers can discipline for working unapproved hours, but the hours still get paid at the overtime rate.

Sources, checked September 23, 2026

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