Written & reviewed by NotALawyer Review AI · Updated June 26, 2026
The federal pay floor every worker gets, plus how to find the stronger rules your own state adds on top.
Wage and hour law in the United States comes in two layers. The bottom layer is federal: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. It sets a nationwide minimum wage, an overtime rule, child-labor limits, and recordkeeping duties that reach most workplaces in the country. The top layer is your state, and sometimes your city or county, which can add stronger protections on top of that federal base.
The principle that ties the two layers together is simple and it works in your favor: when both federal and state law apply, you get whichever one is more protective. The higher minimum wage. The more generous overtime rule. The shorter deadline for your last paycheck. An employer does not get to pick the cheaper rule because it would rather pay less. So a worker covered by both the federal floor and a higher state minimum is owed the state figure, not the federal one.
Because of that 'more protective wins' rule, the very same job can carry very different paycheck rights depending on where it is performed. This guide walks through the federal baseline that applies everywhere, then points you to the per-state figures that change the math, which you'll find in the 'your state' panel and the comparison table on this page.
Under the FLSA, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and it has held at that figure since 2009. Treat that number as a floor, not a target. Many states set a higher minimum, and a growing number of cities and counties set higher local minimums on top of that. Wherever a state or local rate is higher than the federal one, the higher rate is what your employer must actually pay for covered work.
A handful of states have no minimum wage law of their own, or set one below the federal level. In those places the $7.25 federal floor still governs covered employees, so almost no one falls through entirely. The real question for most people is not whether a minimum applies but which one, and the answer depends on your location.
To see where your state lands, and how it compares with the rest of the country, check the minimum-wage figure in your state panel and the 50-state comparison table on this page. Special sub-minimum rules exist under federal law for some categories, such as tipped employees and certain student or trainee programs, but the core guarantee is the same everywhere: for the hours you work, you are owed at least the applicable minimum, free and clear.
One more thing worth knowing: the minimum wage is a per-hour guarantee, not just an average over a paycheck. Employers generally cannot dip below it by passing the cost of uniforms, tools, broken merchandise, or cash-register shortages on to you if doing so would pull your effective hourly rate under the minimum. Deductions that quietly erode your pay are a common source of disputes, so it helps to keep your own record of hours worked and anything subtracted from your check.
The FLSA's overtime rule is one of the most valuable, and most misunderstood, pay protections on the books. For 'non-exempt' employees, every hour worked beyond 40 in a single workweek must be paid at one and a half times the regular rate of pay. The workweek is a fixed, recurring period of 168 hours that your employer designates; it does not have to match the calendar week. Federal law does not require extra pay just for a long day, though a number of states layer on their own daily-overtime rules.
The heart of most overtime disputes is the word 'exempt.' Being paid a salary does not, by itself, make you exempt from overtime. To be exempt, a worker generally has to clear all of the standard tests at once: be paid on a salary basis, earn above a federal salary threshold, and actually perform exempt job duties, such as genuine executive, administrative, or professional work. A job title on its own does not settle it; what counts is what you really do day to day.
Plenty of unpaid-wage problems have nothing to do with the hourly rate. They are about hours that never made it onto the clock at all. Under federal law you generally must be paid for all the time you are 'suffered or permitted to work,' which means even work the employer did not formally pre-approve can still be compensable if the employer knew or should have known you were doing it.
Say a warehouse worker has to pass a required security screening and put on mandatory protective gear for about ten minutes before clocking in, then reverse the process after clocking out, every single shift. That can add up to roughly an hour and a half of arguably compensable time a week, which over a year becomes real money. Whether a specific pre-shift or post-shift task counts can be fact-specific and is sometimes contested, so the practical move is to write down what you do and how long it takes.
For tipped workers, federal law lets employers in some situations take a 'tip credit,' counting a portion of your tips toward the minimum-wage obligation and paying a lower direct cash wage. There is a catch that protects you: your cash wage plus tips must still add up to at least the full applicable minimum wage for every hour you work. If a slow shift means tips fall short, the employer has to make up the difference.
Tips belong to the worker who earns them. Federal law bars employers, managers, and supervisors from keeping employees' tips for any purpose, even when a valid tip pool exists. Tip pooling among employees who customarily receive tips is allowed within limits. Several states go further than the federal baseline, and some do not permit the tip credit at all, requiring the full minimum cash wage before tips are even counted, so the minimum figure in your state panel and the comparison table is the number to check.
Here is a fact that surprises many workers: federal law does not require employers to provide meal or rest breaks at all. What the FLSA does is set the rules for when breaks that are given have to be paid. Short rest breaks, commonly around 5 to 20 minutes, generally count as paid, compensable time. A bona fide meal period, commonly 30 minutes or longer, during which you are fully relieved of duty, generally does not have to be paid, but if you keep working through it, that time usually does.
The right to a break in the first place mostly comes from the states. A number of states mandate meal breaks, rest breaks, or both, such as a paid rest period for every so many hours worked or a meal break once a shift passes a certain length. Because this varies so much from place to place, the rule that actually governs you is your state's. Check your state labor agency for the specific break requirements where you work.
There is currently no general federal law requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave to all workers. Some narrow federal rules reach specific situations, such as certain federal contractors, but for most people whether you earn paid sick time, how much accrues, and what you may use it for depends entirely on your state, and increasingly on your city or county.
This is one of the fastest-changing corners of employment law and it is a genuine patchwork: some states guarantee paid sick leave statewide, some leave it to local governments, and some have none at all. The paid-sick-leave figure in your state panel shows where your state currently stands. Keep in mind that paid sick leave is a separate thing from unpaid, job-protected leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which is its own program with its own eligibility rules.
If you believe you have been underpaid, there is a rough ladder of options that runs from least to most formal. You do not always have to start at the bottom rung, and you can often pursue more than one path at the same time.
Two things are worth knowing before you make a move. First, retaliation is illegal. Federal law, and state law alongside it, prohibits firing, demoting, cutting hours, or otherwise punishing you for asserting your wage rights or filing a complaint. If you were pushed out after raising a pay issue, our companion guide employee-rights-when-fired walks through what to do next, and if the treatment looks tied to your race, sex, age, disability, or another protected trait, the workplace-discrimination tool can help you sort out which path fits.
Second, deadlines apply, so the clock is already running. Wage claims have time limits: under the FLSA the window is generally two years, or three years for willful violations, and state deadlines vary on top of that. The longer you wait, the more back pay can fall off the back end. If you are unsure how strong your situation is, or you want someone in your corner, the free-lawyer tool can point you toward free and low-cost options to talk to a licensed attorney in your state.
One last reminder: this guide is general legal information, not legal advice about your specific circumstances, and wage rules change. For the numbers that actually govern your paycheck, your minimum wage, your paid sick leave, and your final-paycheck deadline, use the 'your state' panel and the comparison table on this page, and confirm anything important with your state labor agency or a licensed attorney in your state.
The minimum hourly wage a standard (non-tipped) employee must be paid, in every state. Where a state sets none, the federal floor of $7.25 applies. Each figure is cited to the state labor agency or its statute.
General information, not legal advice. Tipped, youth, small-employer, and city minimum wages can differ, and rates change — confirm the current figure with the cited source for your state.
More on this topic: the Employment hub
These guides are general information about the law, not legal advice for your specific situation. Talk to a licensed lawyer in your state before making decisions that affect your rights.