New Hampshire Overtime Laws: Exemptions, Claims, Recovery

Under New Hampshire overtime laws, non-exempt employees must be paid 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for every hour worked beyond 40 in a single workweek. The state rule sits in RSA 279:21, and most workers are also covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which uses the same 40-hour threshold. Your overtime rate is built on what you actually earn, not the minimum wage. If your regular rate is $22 an hour, overtime pays $33.¹

RSA 279:21 excludes employees who are already covered by the FLSA, and because the FLSA reaches most private employers with at least $500,000 in annual revenue plus virtually all public agencies, the majority of New Hampshire workers get their overtime protection through federal law. The mechanics are the same either way: 40 hours, then time-and-a-half.¹

Who Does Not Get Overtime

The exemptions that catch people out are the white-collar categories under federal law. An employee is exempt only if they clear both a salary test and a duties test. Meeting one without the other doesn’t count.

Executive, Administrative, and Professional Employees

The salary threshold is $684 per week, or $35,568 per year. A 2024 rule that would have raised that figure was vacated by a federal court, so the 2019 number remains in effect for 2026.²

For the executive exemption, your primary duty must be managing a recognized department or subdivision, you must regularly direct at least two other employees, and you must have meaningful input into hiring and firing.³ Administrative employees must perform office or non-manual work directly tied to management or business operations and must exercise independent judgment on significant matters. Professional employees must do work that requires advanced knowledge in a field typically acquired through prolonged specialized education. Outside salespeople who primarily work away from the employer’s location are exempt with no salary requirement.

Highly Compensated Employees

Workers earning at least $107,432 per year qualify for a streamlined exemption. They still have to perform at least one duty from the executive, administrative, or professional categories, but the duties test is far less demanding.²

Seasonal and Recreational Businesses

RSA 279:21 exempts employees of amusement, seasonal, or recreational businesses that either operate for no more than seven months a year, or that earned at least 75 percent of their annual revenue within a six-month window during the prior year. This sweeps in many ski resorts, summer camps, and seasonal attractions.¹ The FLSA has a nearly identical exemption.⁴

Agricultural Workers

Farm and agricultural employees are exempt from overtime under the FLSA. The exemption covers farming in all its branches, including cultivation, harvesting, raising livestock, and related work performed on a farm. Minimum wage and other protections still apply; only the overtime requirement drops away.⁵

What Counts Toward the 40 Hours

New Hampshire adopts the federal rules on compensable time by incorporating 29 CFR Part 785 through its administrative code.⁶ Those rules decide whether you crossed the 40-hour line in a given week, and misapplying them is where a lot of unpaid overtime hides.

On-Call Time

If you are required to stay on the employer’s premises or close enough that you cannot use the time for your own purposes, those hours count. If you only need to leave a phone number where you can be reached and are otherwise free, that time is generally not compensable.⁷

Meetings and Training

Meetings, lectures, and training sessions count as hours worked unless all four of these conditions are met: attendance is outside your normal hours, attendance is truly voluntary, the content is not directly related to your job, and you do no productive work during the session. If any one condition fails, the time is compensable. Mandatory safety training during a regular shift always counts.⁸

Travel Time

Your normal commute between home and your regular workplace is not compensable. Travel becomes compensable when it is part of your principal work activities, for example when you must report to a central location to pick up equipment or receive instructions before heading to a job site. Travel between job sites during the workday also counts.

Time-Clock Rounding

Employers may round your clock-in and clock-out times to the nearest five, six, or fifteen minutes, but only if the rounding averages out so you are fully paid for all hours worked. Under 15-minute rounding, one to seven minutes can be rounded down and eight to fourteen minutes must be rounded up. Consistent rounding in the employer’s favor is a violation.

Bonuses and the Regular Rate

Non-discretionary bonuses and commissions must be folded into your regular rate before overtime is calculated. If you earned a $200 production bonus during a 50-hour week, the employer cannot simply take your base hourly rate times 1.5 for those extra 10 hours. The bonus has to be allocated across all hours worked, which raises the regular rate and the overtime premium along with it. Discretionary bonuses, such as a surprise holiday gift, are excluded.

How Long You Have to File

You have 36 months from the date wages were due to file a wage claim with the New Hampshire Department of Labor.⁹ Under the FLSA the deadline is shorter: two years from the violation, extended to three years if the employer’s violation was willful, meaning the employer knew or showed reckless disregard for whether its pay practices broke the law.¹⁰

Every pay period that falls outside the limitations window is gone. Waiting a few months means losing recoverable wages at the back end of the claim.

What You Can Recover

A successful FLSA claim entitles you to the full amount of unpaid overtime plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, which effectively doubles the recovery. Courts must award liquidated damages unless the employer proves it acted in good faith and had reasonable grounds to believe its practices were lawful. Not knowing the law is not enough.¹¹ New Hampshire has its own liquidated damages and penalty provisions under RSA 275:39 and RSA 275:40, which can apply alongside federal remedies depending on the violation.

Filing a Wage Claim

Start by gathering evidence: pay stubs, personal time logs, schedules, and any written communication about your hours or pay. The stronger the documentation, the less the outcome depends on your word against the employer’s.

The New Hampshire Department of Labor accepts wage claims by mail or email. Complete the Wage Claim Form from the department’s website and send it to the Hearings Bureau at 95 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH 03301. There is no filing fee. Once the department receives your claim, it notifies your employer and gives them an opportunity to respond. Both sides then appear at an administrative hearing, where a hearing officer reviews the evidence and issues a determination.⁹

The Federal Route

You can also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division by calling 1-866-487-9243. Federal complaints are confidential; the agency does not disclose your name to the employer during the investigation. If the WHD finds a violation, it can pursue back wages on your behalf. You also have the right to file a private FLSA lawsuit, which is often the better path when liquidated damages are on the table.¹²

You can pursue a state claim and a federal claim at the same time, but you cannot collect the same unpaid wages twice. Many workers begin with the state process because it is straightforward and does not require an attorney, then move to federal court if the employer does not cooperate.

Retaliation Protections

Federal law prohibits an employer from firing you, cutting your hours, or taking any other adverse action because you filed a wage complaint, cooperated with an investigation, or raised the issue of unpaid overtime internally. These protections apply whether your complaint was oral or in writing, and they cover former employees.¹³

If an employer retaliates, available remedies include reinstatement, lost wages, and liquidated damages equal to the lost wages.¹³ New Hampshire has its own non-retaliation provision under RSA 275:38-a. Fear of retaliation is the most common reason workers hold back on legitimate claims, but the legal protections in this area are strong and well-tested.

1
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes 279:21 – Minimum Hourly Rate
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17H – Highly-Compensated Employees and the Part 541 Exemption Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
3
eCFR. 29 CFR 541.100 – General Rule for Executive Employees
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 18 – Section 13(a)(3) Exemption for Seasonal Amusement or Recreational Establishments Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
5
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 780 – Exemptions Applicable to Agriculture
6
Legal Information Institute. New Hampshire Code Lab 803.04 – Hours Worked
7
eCFR. 29 CFR 785.17 – On-Call Time
8
eCFR. 29 CFR 785.27 – General
9
State of New Hampshire Department of Labor. File an Online Wage Claim
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 255 – Statute of Limitations
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties
12
U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint
13
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 77A – Prohibiting Retaliation Under the Fair Labor Standards Act