The rule in Vermont
In Vermont, 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: “Applies to employers of two or more employees.”
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
Common mistakes employers make in Vermont
- Paying a discharged employee on the next regular payday. Vermont requires final wages within 72 hours of a discharge.
- Forgetting the Friday rule. When there is no regular payday, a worker who quits must be paid on the following Friday.
- Assuming a two-person business is too small for Vermont's wage and overtime rules. They apply to employers of two or more employees.
Where an unpaid overtime claim goes in Vermont
Vermont has an overtime law of its own at 21 V.S.A. § 384, but it exempts more workplaces than most states do: hotels, motels and restaurants, retail and service businesses where at least 75% of annual sales are not for resale, several kinds of care facility, and amusement or recreation places open seven months a year or fewer.
Exempt from the state rule is not the same as exempt from overtime. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act still reaches most of those employers, so the 40-hour rule usually applies anyway — just through a federal office rather than Montpelier. Wage claims to the Vermont Department of Labor must be filed within two years of the date the wages were due.
Source: 21 V.S.A. § 384 — employment; wages. Deadlines are the ones published by the agency; a court claim can run on a different clock.
Other Vermont pay rules worth knowing
- Final paycheck if fired: Within 72 hours.
- If you quit: By your next regularly scheduled payday. The date depends on your pay schedule, not on when you left.
- Unused PTO: Vermont's final pay law (21 V.S.A. § 342) does not address unused vacation, so whether it is paid out depends on your employer's written policy or agreement.
- Late final pay: An employer who pays late forfeits twice the unpaid wages, recovered in a civil action with costs and attorney's fees — but only if the wages are still unpaid when you sue (21 V.S.A. § 347).
Vermont final paycheck law and deadline calculator →
Vermont 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 Vermont 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 Vermont have its own overtime law?
Yes. The Vermont wage law requires time and a half after 40 hours in a workweek — the same threshold as the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, with no daily rule. Where both laws apply you get whichever is more generous, so in practice the 40-hour weekly rule governs. Applies to employers of two or more employees.
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
- 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.
- Ask your employer in writing to correct the pay. Email beats a conversation because it creates a dated record.
- File a wage claim — Bring a civil action under 21 V.S.A. § 347 while the wages remain unpaid. It is free, and you do not need a lawyer.
- 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 follow the 40-hour weekly rule with nothing added: Alabama, Arizona and Delaware.
Work across a state line? Massachusetts overtime rules and New Hampshire overtime rules.