Do Salaried Employees Get Overtime? (Often, Yes)
Being salaried doesn't mean you've waived overtime. Learn the 2026 salary threshold, the duties test, and how to tell if you're salaried non-exempt and owed time and a half.
It's one of the most expensive misunderstandings in the American workplace: "I'm on salary, so I don't get overtime." Millions of salaried workers believe this, and a lot of them are wrong, sometimes to the tune of thousands of dollars a year.
Being paid a salary is just a way of distributing your pay. It says nothing, by itself, about whether you're entitled to overtime. The real question is whether you're exempt or non-exempt, and plenty of salaried people are non-exempt.
Salary is not the same as exempt
Federal law splits workers into exempt (no overtime) and non-exempt (overtime required). To be exempt, you have to clear both a salary test and a duties test. Failing either one makes you non-exempt, salary or not.
So a "salaried non-exempt" employee is a completely normal, legal thing to be, and that employee is owed time and a half for every hour over 40 in a week, exactly like an hourly worker. The salary just covers the first 40.
The 2026 salary threshold
The first test is money. If your salary is below $684 a week, or $35,568 a year, you cannot be exempt under federal law, no matter your title or duties. You're automatically non-exempt and owed overtime.
A 2024 federal rule that would have lifted this threshold to roughly $58,656 was struck down in court in late 2024, so for 2026 the line sits back at $35,568. Several states set higher floors, though: California's is about $70,304, and New York, Washington, and Colorado also exceed the federal number. Check yours with the exempt salary calculator.
The duties test is where it's won or lost
Clearing the salary threshold isn't enough; your actual job has to qualify. The duties test asks whether you genuinely perform executive, administrative, or professional work: managing a team and directing at least two employees, exercising independent judgment on significant business matters, or doing work that requires advanced specialized knowledge.
If your real day is routine tasks, close supervision, and little independent decision-making, you probably don't qualify, even above the salary line. Read the full breakdown in exempt vs non-exempt employees.
How to calculate overtime on a salary
If you're salaried non-exempt, find your regular hourly rate by dividing your weekly salary by the hours it's meant to cover, usually 40. A $45,000 salary is about $865 a week, or roughly $21.63 an hour.
Work 50 hours that week and you're owed 10 overtime hours at 1.5x, which is $32.45 an hour, or about $324 in overtime on top of your salary. Over a year of 50-hour weeks, that's more than $16,000 in overtime that an "I'm salaried, no OT" assumption would simply give away. The overtime calculator does this math for you.
Common ways employers get this wrong
The classic move is to put a worker on a modest salary, give them a manager-ish title, and then schedule 50- and 60-hour weeks with no overtime. If the duties don't actually match an exemption, that's misclassification, and the unpaid overtime is recoverable.
Another trap is the "salaried non-exempt" worker whose employer just never pays overtime, assuming the salary covers everything. It doesn't. The salary covers 40 hours; everything past that is owed at time and a half.
Frequently asked questions
I make $40,000 on salary and work 55-hour weeks. Am I owed overtime? Quite possibly. You clear the salary threshold, so it comes down to your duties. If your job doesn't involve genuine management or independent judgment, you're non-exempt and owed overtime for those 15 extra hours a week.
Can my employer just label me a manager to avoid overtime? No. Titles don't decide exemption. If you don't truly manage, direct other employees, and have real authority, the label is meaningless and you may be owed back pay.
How far back can I claim unpaid overtime as a salaried worker? The FLSA allows two years, or three for willful violations, and many states allow longer. Misclassification cases often span years, so the totals can be large.
Find out if you're owed overtime
Start by checking the salary test with the exempt salary calculator, then honestly weigh your duties against the exemption standards. If you fall short on either, you're likely owed overtime.
Use the overtime calculator to value your typical week, and the back-pay calculator to estimate the total across months or years. You can also review your options with the DOL Wage and Hour Division. This is general information, not legal advice, but being salaried is no reason to assume you've been paid correctly.