Workweek: Definition, the 168-Hour Rule, and How to Change It
A workweek under the FLSA is a fixed, regularly recurring period of 168 hours (seven consecutive 24-hour periods) that an employer sets for calculating overtime; it can start on any day and hour but cannot be averaged with other weeks or shifted to dodge overtime.
A workweek is the fixed, recurring block of 168 hours that an employer uses to decide when overtime begins. It is a legal accounting period, not a description of how many days someone works. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) lets the employer choose when the week starts, but once chosen it must stay put, and hours from one workweek can never be averaged with hours from another to avoid the 40-hour overtime line.
What Is a Workweek?
The DOL's Fact Sheet #23 defines the workweek as "a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours -- seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar week, but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day." A workweek can run Sunday 12:00 a.m. to Saturday 11:59 p.m., or Wednesday 6:00 a.m. to the following Wednesday 5:59 a.m. Different groups of employees can even have different workweeks, as long as each group's period is fixed.
Three consequences follow from the definition:
- Overtime is measured per workweek, not per pay period. An employee paid biweekly who works 30 hours in week one and 50 in week two is owed 10 hours of overtime, even though the two-week total is 80. Fact Sheet #23 is explicit that "averaging of hours over two or more weeks is not permitted."
- The FLSA does not care which day the hours fall on. Federal law "does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, as such." Weekend and holiday premiums are matters of policy, contract, or state law.
- There is no federal cap on hours for adults. The Act sets "no limit ... on the number of hours employees aged 16 and older may work in any workweek." It only requires that hours past 40 be paid at time and a half.
Workweek vs Pay Period vs Schedule
These three are routinely conflated, and the confusion is expensive.
| Workweek | Pay period | Work schedule | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Overtime calculation | Payroll timing | Staffing plan |
| Length | Always 168 hours | Weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly | Any pattern (5×8, 4×10, rotating) |
| Set by | Employer, fixed once chosen | Employer, subject to state payday laws | Manager or workforce planner |
| Can it change week to week? | No | No | Yes |
| Does it affect overtime owed? | Yes, entirely | No | Only through the hours it produces |
A semimonthly pay period is the classic trap. The 1st through the 15th never lines up with whole workweeks, so payroll has to split a workweek across two paychecks while still applying the 40-hour test to the full seven days. Read Biweekly Pay and Three-Paycheck Months for how pay frequency interacts with the workweek.
Changing the Workweek
Employers are allowed to move the start of the workweek, but the regulation at 29 CFR 778.105 sets two conditions: "The beginning of the workweek may be changed if the change is intended to be permanent and is not designed to evade the overtime requirements of the Act." A one-time shift timed to split a heavy week is exactly what the rule forbids.
When a permanent change is made, the transition creates one overlapping period. The DOL's practice is to compute overtime for the transition two ways, once under the old workweek and once under the new, and pay the employee whichever total is greater. That protects the employee from losing overtime in the one week that is shorter or longer than 168 hours.
A worked example
A BPO moves its workweek from Sunday-to-Saturday to Wednesday-to-Tuesday so that it lines up with a new client's reporting cycle. An agent paid $18.00 an hour works these hours during the transition:
- Sun 8, Mon 8, Tue 8 (old workweek days that fall before the new start): 24 hours
- Wed 9, Thu 9, Fri 9, Sat 9 (days that belong to both the old and the new week): 36 hours
- Sun 6, Mon 6, Tue 6 (first days that belong only to the new week): 18 hours
Old workweek (Sun to Sat): 24 + 36 = 60 hours, so 20 overtime hours. New workweek (Wed to Tue): 36 + 18 = 54 hours, so 14 overtime hours. Overlap hours counted in both: 36.
The DOL method pays whichever computation gives the employee more. Under the old week, overtime is 20 × ($18.00 × 1.5) = $540.00; under the new week, it is 14 × $27.00 = $378.00. The agent is paid overtime for 20 hours on the transition, and the overlap hours are not counted twice in later weeks. Any employer making this change should run the same two-way calculation for every affected employee and keep it on file.
Seven-Day Rules That Sit on Top of the Workweek
The federal workweek only sets when weekly overtime starts. Some states layer additional rules on the same seven-day period. California is the clearest example. The state's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement requires time and a half for the first 8 hours worked on the seventh consecutive day in a workweek and double time for hours beyond 8 on that day, on top of daily overtime after 8 hours. The "seventh consecutive day" is judged within the employer's defined workweek, so the workweek boundary determines whether a six-day stretch that crosses the boundary triggers the premium. Other states have day-of-rest statutes that require one day off in seven for certain industries. The state labor law guides list the ones that apply to your locations.
Fix the workweek in writing
The FLSA record-keeping rules require employers to record the time and day of the week when each employee's workweek begins. Put the workweek in the employee handbook and the payroll system, and confirm any state seventh-day or day-of-rest rule with the U.S. Department of Labor or your state labor agency.
Workweek in Contact Centers and Remote Teams
A 24/7 technical support center runs overnight shifts that start at 10:00 p.m. and end at 6:30 a.m. If the workweek begins at midnight on Sunday, the Saturday overnight shift is split, with two hours falling in one workweek and six and a half in the next. That is legal, but it makes the weekly totals look strange and confuses agents reading their timesheets. Many centers with overnight teams set the workweek to begin at the start of the first overnight shift, say 10:00 p.m. Saturday, so no shift is ever split. The choice has to be permanent and documented, and it has to be applied consistently to that group.
Remote teams spread across time zones face a different version of the same issue. An employer in Louisville with an agent in Manila should define the workweek in one time zone and apply it consistently, rather than letting each agent's local midnight decide which week an hour belongs to.
How to Track the Workweek
Overtime compliance depends on totaling actual hours inside the exact 168-hour window the employer defined. HiveDesk's automatic time tracking records the timestamp of every clock-in and clock-out, so a shift that crosses the workweek boundary is allocated correctly to each side. Timesheets total hours by day and by week, which is the number payroll needs for the 40-hour test, and the weekly view makes a week-to-week comparison easy when an employer is documenting a permanent workweek change. Scheduling lets managers build 5×8, 4×10, or rotating patterns while the timesheet still reports against the fixed workweek. Reports run for any date range, so the two-way transition calculation can be checked against real punches. The plan is $5/user/month with a 14-day free trial.
Weekly Totals That Match Your Workweek
HiveDesk timestamps every punch and totals hours per day and per workweek, so overtime is calculated on the period you actually defined. $5/user/month, 14-day free trial.
Related Terms
- Hours worked: what gets counted inside the workweek
- Regular rate of pay: the rate applied to hours over 40 in the workweek
- Double time: the seventh-day and 12-hour premium in California
- Comp time: the public-sector alternative to cash overtime
- Four-day work week: a schedule that still sits inside a 168-hour workweek
- Overtime Pay Laws in the US: federal and state overtime rules in depth
- How Many Work Hours in a Year: annual totals built from 52 workweeks
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a workweek have to start on Monday? No. The FLSA allows the employer to start the workweek on any day and at any hour, as long as the period is fixed and recurring. Sunday-to-Saturday and Monday-to-Sunday are the most common choices.
Can an employer average hours over two weeks to avoid overtime? No. Overtime is computed separately for each workweek. Working 30 hours one week and 50 the next produces 10 overtime hours regardless of the pay period.
Can an employer change the workweek? Yes, if the change is intended to be permanent and is not designed to evade overtime. The transition week must be computed under both the old and new workweek, and the employee is paid the higher result.
Is a 4-day, 10-hour schedule still a 40-hour workweek? Yes. The workweek is still 168 hours and the federal overtime test is still 40 hours. A 4×10 schedule produces no federal overtime, though states with daily overtime such as California require an approved alternative workweek schedule to avoid daily premiums.
Does the FLSA require a day off each week? No. Federal law sets no limit on hours for employees 16 and older and does not require a day of rest. Several states have day-of-rest laws for certain industries, and California adds premium pay for the seventh consecutive day.
What is the difference between a workweek and a pay period? The workweek is the overtime measurement period and is always seven days. The pay period is how often paychecks are issued and can be weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly. Overtime must be calculated per workweek even when the pay period is longer.
Browse more workforce management terms in the glossary.