How overtime works in District of Columbia

The federal baseline is the whole story here. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets a nationwide floor of time-and-a-half for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, measured by the workweek rather than the day — there is no federal daily-overtime trigger, no double-time, and no seventh-consecutive-day rule. For the full baseline — the 40-hour rule, the workweek definition, the white-collar exemptions and their salary tests, and a worked example — see the federal FLSA overtime guide. It is not repeated here.

District of Columbia sits in the group of states that add nothing to that floor on the overtime and hours axis: it imposes no daily overtime, no double-time, no day-of-week statutory premium, and no weekly overtime threshold that differs from the federal 40 hours. The federal rule is the operative rule for hours worked in District of Columbia.

Practically, that means an employer running payroll for a team in District of Columbia applies the same overtime calculation the FLSA requires: track hours by the workweek, and pay 1.5× the regular rate for every hour over 40 in that workweek. There is no additional District of Columbia calculation layered on top, and nothing state-specific that pulls extra hours into a premium rate.

Overtime exemptions can still turn on a worker’s specific duties and pay, and non-overtime rules — meal and rest breaks, paid leave, and the like — vary regardless. This guide is scoped to the overtime and hours rules, which is where District of Columbia follows the federal floor without divergence.

District of Columbia’s minimum wage is $18.40 per hour (effective July 1, 2026), above the federal $7.25 per hour floor. A higher minimum wage raises the dollar valueof the time-and-a-half premium, because overtime is calculated from the employee’s regular rate — but it does not change the overtime rule. The trigger is still 40 hours in a workweek, and the multiplier is still 1.5×.

Following the federal floor is not the same as having nothing to get right. In A Tick models District of Columbiaas the federal FLSA ruleset: it tracks each workweek’s hours from the actual clock times logged and applies 1.5× past 40 hours, deterministically, so the same timesheet always produces the same result. Its overtime calculation engine leaves pay to the rules, never to guesswork or to AI.

What In A Tick enforces regardless of which rules apply to a given team: accurate capture of the hours actually worked from real clock times, a complete audit trail of how every figure was reached, and a deterministic, payroll-ready calculation you can hand to whoever runs pay.