Like federal law, Wisconsin law requires employers to pay employees one and one half times their regular hourly wage for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a given week. Wisconsin’s overtime law generally applies only to private sector employees; state and local employees are covered by the federal overtime requirements. Anyone who is not covered by the state’s minimum wage law is also not covered by the state’s overtime law. In addition, the following employee’s who are covered by the state’s minimum wage law are not covered by the state’s overtime law:

• Persons employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity (as defined by law)
• Outside salespersons
• Higher paid commission employees of retail and service establishments 50% of whose earnings come from commission and who earn at least 150% of the minimum wage for all hours worked
• Certain drivers, drivers’ helpers, loaders, or mechanics of a motor carrier or private carrier
• Taxi cab drivers
• Indentured apprentices devoting time to classroom instruction
• Parts persons, salespersons, service managers, service writers, or mechanics selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, farm implements, trailers, boats, motorcycles, snowmobiles, other recreational vehicles or aircraft, when employed by a non-manufacturing establishment primarily engaged in selling such vehicles to ultimate purchasers
• Employees of seasonal amusement and recreation establishments that do not operate for more than seven months of the year or which earn the vast majority of their profits in a six-month period
• Agricultural workers
• Motion picture theater employees
• Certain employees of hospitals and other institutions which care for the sick, the aged, the mentally ill or persons with developmental disabilities who reside on the premises, if they have an agreement with their employers
• Local delivery persons paid on the basis of trip rates or delivery plans that have the purpose and effect of reducing their hours
• Employees of funeral establishments
• Certain forestry and lumber workers in operations where no more than eight persons are employed
• Highly paid employees employed in the computer industry

Wisconsin’s minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. If employees receive tips, your employer must pay you at least $2.33 per hour in wages. If the tips combined with the hourly wage of at least $2.33 per hour do not average at least $7.25 per hour over the course of the pay period, your employer must make up the difference. See the Wisconsin website for more information.

Employees under 18 must be provided a 30-minute meal break for every shift greater than six hours in duration; this break does not have to be paid. Agricultural migrant workers must also be provided with a 30-minute break for each six-hour continuous shift, unless the shift can be completed within one more hour. Migrant workers who are not only employed in agriculture must be given a rest period of at least 10 minutes for each continuous five-hour shift.

Employers are not required to provide any other breaks. Meal or rest breaks shorter than 30 minutes must be paid if they are provided. Meal breaks during which the employee is not free to leave the premises must also be paid.

See the Wisconsin Workforce Development website for information on filing a claim.

Do not delay in contacting the Department of Workforce Development to file a claim. There are strict time limits in which charges of wage-and-hour violations must be filed. In order for the Department to act on your behalf, you must file your claim within two years of the date on which your wages were owed. However, as you might have other legal claims with shorter deadlines, do not wait to file your claim until your time limit is close to expiring. It may be helpful to consult with an attorney prior to filing your claim, but it is not necessary to have an attorney to file your claim with the Department.

Instead of filing a claim with the Department of Workforce Development, you may bring a lawsuit in court to recover your unpaid wages. In addition to awarding you your back wages, the court may also require your employer to pay your litigation costs and attorneys’ fees. There is a statute of limitations of two years for this kind of lawsuit.