Editing Working time (section)

==== Overtime rules ====
Many professional workers put in longer hours than the forty-hour standard. In professional industries like investment banking and large law firms, a forty-hour workweek is considered inadequate and may result in job loss or failure to be promoted.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kuckes |first=Niki |url=http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/September-October-2002/review_kuckes_sepoct2002.msp |title=Legal Affairs |publisher=Legal Affairs |access-date=2011-01-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.calbar.ca.gov/404|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104004627/http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_cbj.jsp?sCatHtmlTitle=Top%20Headlines&sCatHtmlPath=cbj%2F2008-01_TH_01_Billable-hours.html|url-status=dead|title=The State Bar of California|archive-date=January 4, 2009|website=www.calbar.ca.gov|access-date=Jul 28, 2019}}</ref> Medical residents in the United States routinely work [[Medical resident work hours|long hours as part of their training]].

Workweek policies are not uniform in the U.S. Many compensation arrangements are legal, and three of the most common are ''wage'', ''commission'', and ''salary'' payment schemes. Wage earners are compensated on a per-hour basis, whereas salaried workers are compensated on a per-week or per-job basis, and commission workers get paid according to how much they produce or sell.

Under most circumstances, wage earners and lower-level employees may be legally required by an employer to work more than forty hours in a week; however, they are paid extra for the additional work. Many salaried workers and commission-paid sales staff are not covered by overtime laws. These are generally called "exempt" positions, because they are exempt from federal and state laws that mandate extra pay for extra time worked.<ref name="titleWhat do the terms exempt and nonexempt mean?">{{cite web |url=http://www.opm.gov/flsa/what.asp |title=What do the terms exempt and nonexempt mean? |access-date=2008-01-28 }}</ref> The rules are complex, but generally exempt workers are executives, professionals, or sales staff.<ref name="titleelaws - Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor">{{cite web |url=http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen75.asp |title=elaws – Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor |access-date=2008-01-28 }}</ref> For example, school teachers are not paid extra for working extra hours. Business owners and independent contractors are considered self-employed, and none of these laws apply to them.

Generally, workers are paid ''[[time-and-a-half]]'', or 1.5 times the worker's base wage, for each hour of work past forty. California also applies this rule to work in excess of eight hours per day,<ref name="titleOvertime">{{cite web |url=http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Overtime.htm |title=Overtime in California FAQ |access-date=2008-01-28 }}</ref> but exemptions<ref name="titleExemptions from the overtime laws">{{cite web |url=http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_overtimeexemptions.htm |title=Exemptions from the overtime laws |access-date=2015-03-17 }}</ref> and exceptions<ref name="titleExceptions to the general overtime law">{{cite web |url=http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_OvertimeExceptions.htm |title=Exceptions to the general overtime law |access-date=2015-03-17 }}</ref> significantly limit the applicability of this law.

In some states, firms are required to pay ''double-time'', or twice the base rate, for each hour of work past 60, or each hour of work past 12 in one day in California, also subject to numerous exemptions and exceptions.<ref name="titleOvertime" /> This provides an [[incentive]] for companies to limit working time, but makes these additional hours more desirable for the worker. It is not uncommon for overtime hours to be accepted voluntarily by wage-earning workers. [[Trade union|Unions]] often treat overtime as a desirable commodity when negotiating how these opportunities shall be partitioned among union members.