The company overtime policy outlines the procedures for compensating employees who work beyond their standard schedule. It aims to ensure consistent and correct compensation, minimize overtime abuse, and adhere to legal guidelines. The policy differentiates between exempt and non-exempt employees and addresses excessive overtime concerns.
This Company Overtime Policy template is ready to be tailored to your company’s needs and should be considered a starting point for setting up your employment policies.
The overtime policy should include:

Our company overtime policy explains how we’ll compensate employees for hours worked beyond their standard schedule. We want to:
This company overtime policy won’t contradict any legal guidelines. We’ll follow relevant legislation when assigning or compensating overtime hours.
This policy applies to all our current eligible employees.
In our company overtime policy, “standard working hours”are an employee’s regularly scheduled working time. They’re usually specified in employment contracts and follow legal guidelines regarding minimum or maximum limits. “Overtime” that qualifies for compensation refers to any amount of time worked in addition to those hours.
Our policy’s general rules are:
Overtime may be necessary to handle emergencies, heavy workloads or other issues. But, frequent and excessive overtime isn’t good for employees’ health and performance. The law may or may not permit excessive overtime, but we want to avoid productivity and morale loss or work-related accidents due to fatigue.
For this reason, we will:
When employees are working on a shift-based system, we will not:
The law may exempt some employees from overtime compensation. These employees will receive overtime at our company’s discretion. All company provisions about excessive overtime will apply to exempt employees too.
We want to avoid any incidents of abuse of the overtime system, either by our company or employees, that may result in legal confrontation. We expect:
We are bound to compensate overtime pay at correct pay rates in a timely manner. Employees and managers should follow our timekeeping systems so we can maintain accurate records.
Employees should read this policy and direct any questions to our Human resources (HR) department.
To comply with record keeping and overtime compensation requirements, we need a smooth procedure. We should record overtime timely. This is our suggested procedure:
| Disclaimer: This Overtime policy template is meant to provide general guidelines and should be used as a reference. It may not take into account all relevant local, state or federal laws and is not a legal document. Neither the author nor Workable will assume any legal liability that may arise from the use of this policy. |
What is an example of an overtime policy? An overtime policy defines standard working hours, classifies employees based on overtime eligibility, and sets procedures for recording and compensating extra hours worked. Why is an overtime policy important? An overtime policy ensures that employees are fairly compensated for extra hours, reduces risks of overtime abuse, and ensures compliance with legal guidelines. What should an overtime policy include? It should define standard hours, classify employees, set rules for recording overtime, and detail compensation procedures. How does the policy address excessive overtime? The policy discourages frequent and excessive overtime to prevent health risks, productivity loss, and work-related accidents due to fatigue. Who are exempt employees in the context of overtime? Some employees may be exempt from overtime compensation based on the law. These employees receive overtime at the company's discretion.