Is Holiday or Weekend Work Overtime?

The federal rule: the day doesn’t matter, the week does

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) pays time and a half for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The Department of Labor’s overtime page says it plainly: “The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days.” The federal regulation adds that there is no general daily overtime either.

So a holiday or weekend hour is an ordinary hour. It counts toward the 40 like a Tuesday hour, and it becomes overtime only if it falls after the 40th hour of the workweek.

Five 8-hour shifts, 8:00 (8.00 hours) each on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, make 40:00 (40.00 hours). At $24.50 an hour that is $980.00, with no overtime, even though two of the days are a weekend.

Premium pay for weekends and holidays is still common. It comes from a union contract, a company policy or your offer letter, not from federal law. If your employer promises it, the terms are in those documents.

Paid holidays off don’t count toward the 40

This is where many hand-added time cards go wrong. Under federal rules, pay for a holiday you don’t work is not pay for hours worked. Those hours are left out of the regular rate, and they don’t count toward the 40-hour overtime line.

The federal law also doesn’t require holiday pay at all. The Department of Labor’s holiday page says the FLSA does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations or holidays, federal or otherwise. Holiday pay is a matter of agreement between employer and employee.

Example: Thanksgiving week 2026. Thanksgiving Day is Thursday, November 26, 2026. The workweek runs Sunday, November 22 to Saturday, November 28. The rate is $24.50 an hour, and the employer pays 8 hours of holiday pay for Thanksgiving.

• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday are 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM with a 30-minute unpaid meal: 9:00 (9.00 hours) each, 36:00 (36.00 hours) worked. Thursday is the paid holiday. Hours worked are under 40, so there is no overtime. Pay is $882.00 for hours worked plus $196.00 of holiday pay.
• Add a Saturday shift from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM, 6:00 (6.00 hours). Hours worked are now 42:00 (42.00 hours), so 2:00 (2.00 hours) are overtime. Pay for hours worked is $980.00 straight time plus $73.50 overtime, $1,053.50, and the $196.00 holiday pay is on top.

Adding the 8 holiday hours to the 42 worked would show 50 hours and 10 hours of overtime. Under the federal rule that is wrong. The 8 holiday hours were never worked. The same goes for paid vacation and sick hours.

Nothing stops an employer from counting paid holidays toward overtime by policy or contract. That is more generous than the federal rule, and the written policy will say so if it applies.

Working the holiday itself

If you work Thanksgiving too, Monday to Friday at 9:00 a day, the week is 45:00 (45.00 hours). That gives 5:00 (5.00 hours) of overtime and $1,163.75 gross at $24.50 an hour, before any holiday premium your employer pays by policy.

Two federal details matter when a holiday premium is involved:

• A real holiday premium can count toward overtime. If an employer pays at least 1.5 times the regular rate for work on a holiday, Saturday, Sunday or regular day of rest, the extra can be treated as an overtime premium and credited toward overtime due for that week (29 CFR 778.203).
• Idle holiday pay can’t. Pay for a holiday not worked, or extra holiday pay given when you work the holiday instead, is not pay for work. No part of it can be credited toward the overtime the law requires (29 CFR 778.218 and 778.219).

These crediting rules are about how the employer’s payroll adds up. If a stub nets a holiday premium against overtime, ask how it was computed.

State rules that add a premium

Most states follow the federal approach: no premium for the day itself. The site’s 51-jurisdiction dataset, checked on October 22, 2026, shows these differences. The overtime laws by state table has every row.

• Rhode Island is the clearest case. State law requires at least 1.5 times the normal rate for work on Sundays and listed holidays for covered employees, and the work must be voluntary. The holidays are New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July 4th, Victory Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many employer types are excluded, including health care, restaurants, hotels and agriculture. For retail employees paid that premium, the Sunday and holiday hours are left out of the weekly overtime count. The site’s calculator does not add this premium.
• California and Kentucky have seventh-day overtime. If you work all seven days of one workweek, the seventh day is paid at a premium, and it often falls on a weekend. See the seventh-day guide.
• Connecticut restaurant and hotel restaurant workers get at least 1.5 times the minimum rate on the seventh consecutive day.
• Daily overtime states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon) pay for long days on any day of the week, holidays included, when each state’s conditions are met. See the daily overtime guide.

Some state agencies say outright that there is no state holiday or weekend premium. The Idaho Department of Labor says Idaho law doesn’t require premium rates for weekends or holidays. Montana’s Department of Labor and Industry says the same unless the week passes 40 hours. Kansas says overtime isn’t due merely for Sundays or holidays.

Massachusetts once required a retail Sunday and holiday premium. The current statute text read for the dataset no longer contains one. It says only that retail Sunday and holiday work is voluntary.

Public-sector employees and workers on government contracts can have separate holiday rules. Those are outside this guide.

Bottom line

A holiday or weekend hour is overtime under federal law only when it is past the 40th hour of the workweek. Paid holiday hours you didn’t work don’t count toward the 40. Rhode Island’s Sunday and holiday premium, the seventh-day rules in California and Kentucky, and Connecticut’s restaurant rule are the main exceptions.

If your stub doesn’t match, check two things first: when your workweek starts, and whether holiday hours were counted as worked. Then ask your employer. Your state labor department, or the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243, can look into a pay question. To check a week yourself, enter only the hours you actually worked in the time card calculator.