Your rights / Pay and hours
Pay and hours: are you paid for all your time?
Overtime, salaried status, 24-hour shifts, charting after clock-out, breaks and your last paycheck, for nurses, medics, EMTs, LPNs and CNAs.
Every rule here was read on the statute, regulation or agency page it cites. Checked November 10, 2026.
General information, not legal advice. Laws change and your facts decide how they apply. Before you act, confirm with the agency listed here or with an employment lawyer or your union representative.
Overtime
Federal law, every state
Hours over 40 in a workweek are paid at time and a half of your regular rate. The workweek is the unit: a 12-hour shift is not overtime by itself under federal law, and a light week does not cancel a heavy one.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees of private employers and of state and local governments.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
- Hospitals and residential care facilities may use the 8-and-80 system instead.
- Public fire departments may use a §7(k) work period.
- A public agency with fewer than 5 employees in fire protection (or in law enforcement) in a workweek owes those employees no overtime that week. (29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(20))
"not less than one and one-half times the regular rate"
29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1) (FLSA § 7(a)) · Checked November 10, 2026
A hospital or residential care facility can use a 14-day period instead of the 40-hour week. Then you are paid time and a half for hours over 8 in a day and hours over 80 in the 14 days. Under 8-and-80, a 12-hour shift carries 4 overtime hours that day even if the period stays under 80.
Who it covers: Employees of hospitals and residential care establishments.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
- It needs an agreement or understanding with you before the work is done. It does not have to be written, but if it is not, the employer must keep a special record of it.
"in excess of 8 hours in any workday and in excess of 80 hours in such 14-day period"
29 CFR § 778.601 · Checked November 10, 2026
The 8-and-80 system cannot be applied after the fact to a period you already worked. Ask which system your unit uses before you pick up extra shifts.
Who it covers: Employees of hospitals and residential care establishments.
"must be entered into before the work to which it is intended to apply is performed"
29 CFR § 778.601 · Checked November 10, 2026
Salaried and exempt
Federal law, every state
An RN can be paid a salary with no overtime only when both the duties test and the salary-basis test are met. The duties alone are not enough.
Who it covers: Registered nurses.
"Registered nurses who are registered by the appropriate State examining board generally meet the duties requirements for the learned professional exemption."
29 CFR § 541.301 · Checked November 10, 2026
LPNs, LVNs and similar health care staff generally do not qualify for the professional exemption, so they are owed overtime for hours over 40.
Who it covers: LPNs/LVNs and similar health care employees.
"Licensed practical nurses and other similar health care employees, however, generally do not qualify as exempt learned professionals"
29 CFR § 541.301 · Checked November 10, 2026
An RN paid by the hour is owed overtime. The professional exemption needs a salary or fee basis.
Who it covers: Registered nurses paid hourly.
"Registered nurses who are paid on an hourly basis should receive overtime pay."
U.S. DOL Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet #17N · Checked November 10, 2026
The salary floor for the white-collar exemptions in the current federal regulation is $684 a week. Some states set a higher floor.
Who it covers: Employees classified as exempt executive, administrative or professional staff.
"compensated on a salary basis at a rate of not less than $684 per week"
29 CFR § 541.600 · Checked November 10, 2026
Paramedics, EMTs and ambulance crews doing front-line work are not exempt executives, administrators or professionals, whatever their rank or pay level.
Who it covers: Paramedics, EMTs, ambulance personnel and rescue workers.
"paramedics, emergency medical technicians, ambulance personnel, rescue workers"
29 CFR § 541.3 · Checked November 10, 2026
Public fire and EMS (§7(k))
Federal law, every state
The §7(k) partial exemption, which lets overtime start later across a longer work period, belongs to public agencies only. A private ambulance company or a hospital cannot use it; the 40-hour week (or 8-and-80 at a hospital) applies.
Who it covers: Employees of public agencies.
"No public agency shall be deemed to have violated subsection (a) with respect to the employment of any employee in fire protection activities"
29 U.S.C. § 207(k) · Checked November 10, 2026
A paramedic or EMT counts as a fire protection employee under §7(k) only if trained in fire suppression, with legal authority and responsibility to fight fires, employed by a fire department, and working fire or emergency response. A public EMS employee outside a fire department, or one not responsible for fire suppression, does not fit that definition.
Who it covers: Paramedics, EMTs, rescue workers and ambulance personnel at public agencies.
"employed by a fire department of a municipality, county, fire district, or State"
29 CFR § 553.210 · Checked November 10, 2026
Under §7(k), fire protection employees earn overtime after 212 hours in a 28-day work period, or the same ratio for a shorter one (106 hours in 14 days, 53 in 7).
Who it covers: Public fire protection employees under §7(k).
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
- A public agency with fewer than 5 employees in fire protection (or in law enforcement) in a workweek owes those employees no overtime that week. (29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(20))
"the same relationship to 212 as the number of days in the work period bears to 28"
29 CFR § 553.230 · Checked November 10, 2026
A §7(k) work period runs from 7 to 28 days and, once set, stays fixed. Ask your department what its work period is.
Who it covers: Public fire protection employees under §7(k).
"cannot be less than 7 consecutive days nor more than 28 consecutive days"
29 CFR § 553.224 · Checked November 10, 2026
If your public agency uses §7(k), a tour of 24 hours or less is all paid: sleep time and meal time cannot be excluded. Only on tours longer than 24 hours can up to 8 hours of sleep be excluded, and only by agreement; calls that interrupt sleep are paid, and under 5 hours of sleep makes the whole sleep period paid.
Who it covers: Fire protection employees (including fire-based paramedics and EMTs) of public agencies using §7(k).
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
- Meal time also cannot be excluded on tours of 24 hours or less for fire protection employees under §7(k). (29 CFR § 553.223)
- On tours over 24 hours, sleep can be excluded only with an express or implied agreement, and never more than 8 hours in 24. (29 CFR § 553.222)
- On tours over 24 hours, calls during sleep are paid, and if interruptions leave you less than 5 hours of sleep, the whole sleep period is paid. (29 CFR § 553.222)
"Where the employee is on a tour of duty of exactly 24 hours, which is a departure from the general rules in part 785."
29 CFR § 553.222 · Checked November 10, 2026
What counts as work time
Federal law, every state
On-call time is paid if you must stay at the facility or so close that you cannot use the time for yourself. If you only have to leave word where you can be reached, the waiting is not working time.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees.
"is working while "on call""
29 CFR § 785.17 · Checked November 10, 2026
On a shift shorter than 24 hours, all of it is paid, even if you are allowed to sleep when it is quiet.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees, including private EMS crews.
"An employee who is required to be on duty for less than 24 hours is working even though he is permitted to sleep"
29 CFR § 785.21 · Checked November 10, 2026
On a shift of 24 hours or more, you and the employer may agree to leave out up to 8 hours of sleep and bona fide meal periods, but only if adequate sleeping facilities are provided and you can usually get an uninterrupted night's sleep. Calls during the sleep period are paid, and if you cannot get at least 5 hours of sleep, the whole sleep period is paid.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees on duty 24 hours or more, except fire-protection employees of a public agency using §7(k) on tours of exactly 24 hours (all of that tour is paid; see Public fire and EMS).
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
- If you cannot get at least 5 hours of sleep in the scheduled sleep period, the entire period is working time; calls during it are paid. (29 CFR § 785.22)
- At a public fire department using §7(k), sleep time cannot be excluded on a tour of exactly 24 hours. (29 CFR § 553.222)
"a bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping period of not more than 8 hours"
29 CFR § 785.22 · Checked November 10, 2026
Short breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes are paid time when your employer gives them.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees.
"They must be counted as hours worked."
29 CFR § 785.18 · Checked November 10, 2026
A meal break can be unpaid only if you are completely relieved of duty. If you must perform any duties while eating, active or inactive, it is working time.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees.
"The employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purposes of eating regular meals."
29 CFR § 785.19 · Checked November 10, 2026
Charting after you clock out, report that runs past the end of shift, and work before you clock in are work time when the employer knows or has reason to believe you are doing it.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees.
"Work not requested but suffered or permitted is work time."
29 CFR § 785.11 · Checked November 10, 2026
A policy that says "no work off the clock" does not excuse the employer if the work still happens and management accepts it.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees.
"The mere promulgation of a rule against such work is not enough."
29 CFR § 785.13 · Checked November 10, 2026
Rounding punches to the nearest 5, 6 or 15 minutes is accepted only if it evens out over time. Rounding that consistently shorts you is not.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees.
"it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked"
29 CFR § 785.48 · Checked November 10, 2026
Travel between work sites during the workday is paid. Your ordinary commute is not.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees.
"travel from job site to job site during the workday, must be counted as hours worked"
29 CFR § 785.38 · Checked November 10, 2026
Your normal commute is unpaid, whether you work at one hospital or rotate between sites.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees.
"Normal travel from home to work is not worktime."
29 CFR § 785.35 · Checked November 10, 2026
Training and meetings can be unpaid only if all four apply: outside your regular hours, truly voluntary, not directly related to your job, and you do no productive work. Required in-services and mandatory skills days fail that test.
Who it covers: Non-exempt employees.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
- Public employees: training outside regular hours that the law requires for certification of public and private employees in that jurisdiction (for example, EMS recertification) is not paid time. (29 CFR § 553.226)
"need not be counted as working time if the following four criteria are met"
29 CFR § 785.27 · Checked November 10, 2026