Connecticut Overtime Pay Laws & Calculator

The rules

Source: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-76c (aligns with federal FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 207)

• Overtime applies after 40 hours in a single workweek, paid at 1.5x your regular hourly rate.

Worked example

Take a non-exempt hourly employee in Connecticut earning $20.00/hour who works 45 hours in one workweek (nine hours a day, Monday through Friday). Applying Connecticut's rules above:

Use the full calculator to plug in your own rate, hours, and pay period — including estimated federal and Connecticut tax withholding.

Connecticut minimum wage and exempt-salary rules

Minimum wage

$16.94/hour, effective January 1, 2026 (adjusted annually based on the federal employment cost index). (Governor Lamont's 2026 minimum wage announcement)

Tipped employees

Employers may pay a lower cash wage -- $6.38/hour for waitstaff, $8.23/hour for bartenders -- as long as tips bring total pay up to the full $16.94/hour minimum. Connecticut plans to phase out these tipped rates entirely by July 1, 2027. (CT DOL Wage and Workplace Standards)

Exempt (salaried) employee salary threshold

Connecticut hasn't set its own higher exempt-salary threshold -- the federal minimum of $684/week ($35,568/year) applies for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions. (CT DOL Wage and Workplace Standards)

Common mistake: The most common Connecticut mistake isn't about the state's own rule (Connecticut just follows the federal 40-hour weekly standard) -- it's averaging hours across a biweekly pay period instead of calculating overtime for each 7-day workweek separately. See the biweekly overtime calculator below for exactly why that's wrong.

Example: biweekly confusion in Connecticut

Same hourly rate ($20.00/hour), 35 hours in week 1 and 45 hours in week 2 — 80 hours total either way:

Week 2 still owes 5 overtime hours even though the two-week total is a plain 80 hours — overtime in Connecticut is calculated per workweek, not by averaging the pay period. See the biweekly overtime calculator for more examples.

Example: 3x12 vs. 4x12 schedules in Connecticut

Two common 12-hour-shift schedules, same $20.00/hour rate:

Want to compare your own rate, days, and shift differential? Use the schedule comparison tool.

Connecticut-specific FAQ

Is overtime taxed differently in Connecticut?

No -- overtime pay isn't taxed at a different rate than your regular wages. It's simply added to your gross pay for that period and withheld the same way as any other pay. Connecticut taxes wage income on a bracketed schedule topping out at 6.99% (Tax Foundation, 2026 State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets); overtime pay is withheld the same as any other wages, based on your total taxable pay for the period.

Who this applies to

• Overtime applies per 7-day workweek, not per pay period -- a biweekly paycheck still needs each week calculated separately, which is why this calculator asks for hours week by week.
• This estimate assumes a non-exempt hourly employee. Executive, administrative, professional, and certain other roles may be exempt from overtime entirely under state and federal law.
• Connecticut has no general daily-overtime or double-time requirement -- only the weekly threshold below applies.

This is an estimate for general informational purposes only, not legal, tax, or payroll advice. For your specific situation, consult your employer's payroll department, a licensed tax professional, or Connecticut's labor department.