What Is a Workweek Under the FLSA? (2026 Rules Explained)

Start Here: Overtime Is a Weekly Question

Almost every overtime dispute I have watched unravel started with the same misunderstanding. Someone averaged hours across a two-week pay period, saw 80 total, and concluded nothing was owed. The Fair Labor Standards Act does not work that way. Overtime is calculated per workweek, and the workweek is a fixed unit your employer defines in advance.

Get the workweek right and the rest of the math follows. Get it wrong and you can underpay someone who worked 50 hours one week and 30 the next.

The Legal Definition

Under 29 CFR 778.105, a workweek is:

• A fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 consecutive hours (seven consecutive 24-hour periods).
• It can start on any day of the week and at any hour of the day.
• It does not have to line up with the calendar week, the pay period, or anyone's shift schedule.

So a workweek running Wednesday 6:00 a.m. to the following Wednesday 5:59 a.m. is perfectly legal. What is not legal is having no fixed workweek and choosing one after the fact to minimize overtime.

Why Pay Periods Confuse People

Pay periods are an accounting convenience. Workweeks are a legal unit. When you pay biweekly, you have two separate workweeks inside one paycheck, and each is measured on its own.

| Week | Hours worked | Overtime owed |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Week 1 | 50 | 10 hours at 1.5x |

| Week 2 | 30 | none |

| Pay period total | 80 | still 10 hours of overtime |

The 80-hour total is irrelevant. Ten overtime hours are owed. Our biweekly overtime guide walks through the same math with a full paycheck example, and you can check your own numbers with the FLSA overtime calculator.

Different Workweeks for Different Employees

An employer can set different workweeks for different employees or departments, as long as each one is fixed and consistent. A hospital may run nursing on a Sunday-to-Saturday week and administration on a Monday-to-Sunday week. That is fine. What matters is that the assignment is stable and documented.

When Can a Workweek Change?

The rule from the Department of Labor is short: a change is permitted if it is intended to be permanent and is not designed to evade overtime. Signals that a change is legitimate:

• It applies going forward, not retroactively.
• Employees are told in writing before it takes effect.
• It stays in place for the long term rather than flipping with workload.

During the transition week you have to compute overtime under both the old and the new workweek and pay whichever produces the higher amount.

Practical Checklist for Employers

• Write your workweek definition into the handbook, with a start day and start time.
• Make sure your time system's week boundary matches that definition exactly.
• Never average two weeks together, even when the pay period totals 80.
• Keep records that show hours by workweek, not just by pay period.

Related Guides in This Cluster

• Hub: Overtime Compliance in Plain Language
• Time Rounding and De Minimis Time Rules
• Engaged to Wait vs Waiting to Be Engaged
• Overtime Statute of Limitations and Back Pay

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my employer average my hours over two weeks?

No. Under the FLSA, overtime is owed on hours over 40 in each individual workweek. Averaging across a biweekly or semimonthly pay period is one of the most common wage violations the Department of Labor finds.

Does the workweek have to start on Monday?

No. It can start on any day and at any hour, as long as it is fixed, recurring, and consistently applied.

Can my employer change the workweek to avoid paying overtime?

No. A change must be intended as permanent and cannot be made for the purpose of dodging overtime liability. Temporary shifts timed around busy weeks are treated as evasion.

Do salaried employees have a workweek too?

Yes. Every nonexempt employee has a workweek, salaried or hourly. Salary changes how the regular rate is computed, not whether overtime is measured weekly.