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Hawaii overtime rules

Hawaii pays time and a half after 40 hours in a workweek, but an employee guaranteed $4,000 or more a month falls outside the state wage law entirely.

Verified against the US Department of Labor.

Your week

Decimal (46.5) or hours and minutes (46:30).

Attendance, production, safety bonuses and shift differentials count. Gifts and reimbursements do not.

Good to know in HawaiiEmployee with guaranteed monthly compensation of $4,000 or more is exempt from state minimum wage and overtime law.

What you are owed

Regular rate of payBase rate plus bonus, per hour
$25.26
Straight time40.00 hrs at the regular rate
$1,010.43
Overtime6.00 hrs at 1.5×
$227.35
Double timeNone this week
$0.00
Total gross$1,237.78
Your overtime rate is higher than your hourly rate$9.78 more Your regular rate of pay is $25.26, so your overtime rate is $37.89, not $33.00. Paying overtime at $33.00 would leave you $9.78 short this week.

The rule in Hawaii

In Hawaii, hours over 40 in a workweek are paid at 1.5 times your regular rate. There is no general daily limit, so a 12-hour day inside a 36-hour week earns no overtime.

The US Department of Labor's state table adds: “Employee with guaranteed monthly compensation of $4,000 or more is exempt from state minimum wage and overtime law.”

Guaranteed pay of $4,000 a month

Employee with guaranteed monthly compensation of $4,000 or more is exempt from state minimum wage and overtime law.

What counts toward your regular rate

Overtime is 1.5 times your regular rate of pay: everything you earned for the week at straight time, divided by every hour you worked.

Counts

  • Your hourly pay for every hour worked, at each rate you worked
  • Non-discretionary bonuses — attendance, production, safety, or any bonus promised in advance
  • Commissions
  • Shift differentials for nights, weekends or hazardous work

Does not count

  • Discretionary bonuses and gifts, where both the fact and the amount were up to the employer
  • Expense reimbursements
  • Pay for time not worked: vacation, holidays, sick days

A worked example

Hawaii, 46 hours with a $150 production bonus.Your overtime is not 1.5 × $22. The bonus is spread across all 46 hours first, lifting your regular rate to $25.26, which makes your overtime rate $37.89 instead of $33.00. Paying overtime at $33.00 would leave you $9.78 short for the week.

Common mistakes employers make in Hawaii

  • Treating the $4,000-a-month cut-off as a management exemption. Hawaii's exclusion rests on the guaranteed pay figure alone, with no duties test, and federal overtime rules can still reach that employee.
  • Dividing a salary by the hours actually worked. Hawaii divides a weekly salary by 40; a monthly salary is multiplied by 12, divided by 52, then divided by 40.
  • Waiting for the next payday to pay a discharged worker. Hawaii requires payment at the time of discharge, or the next working day where conditions prevent it.

Other Hawaii pay rules worth knowing

  • Final paycheck if fired: Immediately — final wages are due on your last day.
  • If you quit: By your next regularly scheduled payday. The date depends on your pay schedule, not on when you left.
  • Unused PTO: Hawaii does not require paid vacation. Employers that offer it must give the policy in writing or post it, and that policy decides whether unused vacation is paid at separation.
  • Late final pay: Liquidated damages equal to the unpaid wages, on top of the wages themselves.

Hawaii final paycheck law and deadline calculator →

Hawaii overtime: common questions

Does my employer have to pay overtime if they didn't approve it?

Yes. Time your employer knew you were working, or allowed you to work, counts as hours worked, whether or not anyone approved it in advance. An employer can discipline you for breaking an overtime policy, but it still has to pay overtime for those hours — in Hawaii as everywhere else under federal law.

Does my bonus change my overtime rate?

Yes, if the bonus is non-discretionary — promised for attendance, production, safety or hitting a target. It is added to your straight-time pay and divided by all the hours you worked, and your overtime is 1.5 times that higher rate. Discretionary gifts, expense reimbursements and paid time off are left out.

Does the $4,000 rule mean I get no overtime in Hawaii?

It means Hawaii's own wage law does not cover you. Federal law can still apply: most employees of businesses engaged in interstate commerce are owed time and a half after 40 hours under the Fair Labor Standards Act, whatever they earn, unless they fit a federal exemption such as the executive, administrative or professional one.

What is a workweek, and can my employer change it?

A workweek is a fixed, recurring block of seven consecutive 24-hour days, and it can start on any day and at any hour. Overtime is counted per workweek, never averaged across two, even when you are paid every two weeks. Your employer can change the start day, but only permanently and not to avoid paying overtime.

If you think you were underpaid

  1. Keep your own record of the hours you worked — the time card calculator totals them and exports a CSV — plus photos of the posted schedule and messages about shifts.
  2. Ask your employer in writing to correct the pay. Email beats a conversation because it creates a dated record.
  3. File a wage claim — File a signed written complaint with the Hawaii DLIR Wage Standards Division within 1 year of the wages becoming due. It is free, and you do not need a lawyer.
  4. Federal overtime claims must generally be brought within 2 years of the underpayment, or 3 years if the violation was willful.

Spotted something wrong? Report an error.

Other states that also add their own exception to the 40-hour rule: Connecticut, Kansas and Kentucky.