Several questions this week about holiday pay and overtime pay that I want to respond. When it comes to overtime pay on holidays, Santa is on the side of small business owners! Under federal law, a holiday does not have a special designation for overtime pay, nor is working on a holiday considered overtime. The law views holidays as just another business day.
You probably already know that both the federal and state law require almost every employer to pay overtime. And even a few, very few, employees are exempt from overtime. If your employee is entitled to overtime, calculating pay can be a bit tricky. The important thing to know is that under federal law, overtime is calculated weekly. This means if your employee works over 40 hours during the week of Christmas or New Year’s Day, they are entitled to “time and a half” – the employee’s hourly wage plus 50 percent – for the hours worked over 40 hours.
Of course that doesn’t mean you cannot play Santa and still add holiday pay to your employees checks for the holidays.
If you have questions please call us! Our sister company, Payroll South, manages payrolls for many small businesses in the south Georgia area and can help with this issue. http://www.hurstandhurst.com/services/payroll-services/
Merry Christmas!
Robb
