Section 21-5C-3 - Maximum hours; overtime compensation(a) On and after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty, no employer shall employ any of his employees for a workweek longer than forty hours, unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.(b) As used in this section the "regular rate" at which an employee is employed shall be deemed to include all remuneration for employment paid to, or on behalf of, the employee, but shall not be deemed to include: (1) Sums paid as gifts; payments in the nature of gifts made at Christmas time or on other special occasions, as a reward for service, the amounts of which are not measured by or dependent on hours worked, production, or efficiency;(2) Payments made for occasional periods when no work is performed due to vacation, holiday, illness, failure of the employer to provide sufficient work, or other similar cause; reasonable payments for traveling expenses, or other expenses, incurred by an employee in the furtherance of his employer's interests and properly reimbursable by the employer, and other similar payments to an employee which are not made as compensation for his hours of employment;(3) Sums paid in recognition of services performed during a given period if either: (a) Both the fact that payment is to be made and the amount of the payment are determined at the sole discretion of the employer at or near the end of the period and not pursuant to any prior contract, agreement or promise causing the employee to expect such payments regularly; or (b) the payments are made pursuant to a bona fide profit-sharing plan or trust or bona fide thrift or savings plan, meeting the requirements of the commissioner set forth in appropriate regulation which he shall issue, having due regard among other relevant factors, to the extent to which the amounts paid to the employee are determined without regard to hours of work, production or efficiency; or (c) the payments are talent fees (as such talent fees are defined and delimited by regulations of the commissioner) paid to performers, including announcers, on radio and television programs;(4) Contributions irrevocably made by an employer to a trustee or third person pursuant to a bona fide plan for providing old-age, retirement, life, accident, or health insurance or similar benefits for employees;(5) Extra compensation provided by a premium rate paid for certain hours worked by the employee in any day or workweek because such hours are hours worked in excess of eight in a day or in excess of the maximum workweek applicable to such employee under subsection (a) or in excess of the employee's normal working hours or regular working hours, as the case may be;(6) Extra compensation provided by a premium rate paid for work by the employee on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays or regular days of rest, or on the sixth or seventh day of the workweek, where such premium rate is not less than one and one-half times the rate established in good faith for like work performed in nonovertime hours on other days; or(7) Extra compensation provided by a premium rate paid to the employee, in pursuance of an applicable employment contract or collective bargaining agreement, for work outside of the hours established in good faith by the contract or agreement as the basic, normal or regular workweek where such premium rate is not less than one and one-half times the rate established in good faith by the contract or agreement for like work performed during such workweek.(c) No employer shall be deemed to have violated subsection (a) by employing any employee for a workweek in excess of the maximum workweek applicable to such employee under subsection (a) if such employee is employed pursuant to a bona fide individual contract, or pursuant to an agreement made as a result of collective bargaining by representatives of employees, if theduties of such employee necessitate irregular hours of work, and the contract or agreement (1) specifies a regular rate of pay of not less than the minimum hourly rate provided in section two and compensation at not less than one and one-half times such rate for all hours worked in excess of such maximum workweek, and (2) provides a weekly guaranty of pay for not more than sixty hours based on the rates so specified.(d) No employer shall be deemed to have violated subsection (a) by employing any employee for a workweek in excess of the maximum workweek applicable to such employee under such subsection if, pursuant to an agreement or understanding arrived at between the employer and the employee before performance of the work, the amount paid to the employee for the number of hours worked by him in such workweek in excess of the maximum workweek applicable to such employee under such subsection: (1) In the case of an employee employed at piece rates, is computed at piece rates not less than one and one-half times the bona fide piece rates applicable to the same work when performed during nonovertime hours; or(2) In the case of an employee performing two or more kinds of work for which different hourly or piece rates have been established, is computed at rates not less than one and one-half times such bona fide rates applicable to the same work when performed during nonovertime hours; or(3) Is computed at a rate not less than one and one-half times the rate established by such agreement or understanding as the basic rate to be used in computing overtime compensation thereunder: Provided, That the rate so established shall be authorized by regulation by the commissioner as being substantially equivalent to the average hourly earnings of the employee, exclusive of overtime premiums, in the particular work over a representative period of time; and if (i) the employee's average hourly earnings for the workweek exclusive of payments described in subdivisions (1) through (7) of subsection (b) are not less than the minimum hourly rate required by applicable law, and (ii) extra overtime compensation is properly computed and paid on other forms of additional pay required to be included in computing the regular rate.(e) Extra compensation paid as described in subdivisions (5), (6) and (7) of subsection (b) shall be creditable toward overtime compensation payable pursuant to this section.(f)(1) Employees of county and municipal governments may receive, in accordance with this subsection and in lieu of overtime compensation, compensatory time off at a rate not less than one and one-half hours for each hour of employment for which overtime is required pursuant to this section.(2) County and municipal governments may provide compensatory time under subdivision (1) of this subsection, only pursuant to a written agreement arrived at between the employer and employee before the performance of the work, and recorded in the employer's record of hours worked, and if the employee has not accrued compensatory time in excess of the limit prescribed in subdivision (3) of this subsection. Any written agreement may be modified at the request of either the employer or the employee, but under no circumstances shall changes in the agreement deny an employee compensatory time heretofore acquired.(3) An employee may accrue up to four hundred eighty hours of compensatory time if the employee's work is a public safety activity, an emergency response activity or a seasonal activity. An employee engaged in other work for a county or municipal government may accrue up to two hundred forty hours of compensatory time. Any such employee who has accrued four hundred eighty or two hundred forty hours of compensatory time, as the case may be, shall for additional overtime hours of work, be paid overtime compensation. If compensation is paid to an employee for accrued compensatory time off, such compensation shall be paid at the regular rate earned by the employee at the time the employee receives such payment.(4) An employee who has accrued compensatory time off authorized to be provided under subdivision (1) of this subsectionshall, upon termination of employment, be paid for the unused compensatory time at a rate of compensation not less than: (A) The average regular rate received by such employee during the last three years of the employee's employment; or(B) The final regular rate received by such employee, whichever is higher.(5) An employee of a county or municipal government:(A) Who has accrued compensatory time off authorized to be provided under subdivision (1) of this subsection; and(B) Who has requested the use of such compensatory time, shall be permitted by the employee's employer to use such time within a reasonable time after making the request if the use of the compensatory time does not unduly disrupt the operation of the public agency. Compensatory time must be used within one year from the time it was acquired.(6) For purposes of this subsection the terms "compensatory time" and "compensatory time off" mean hours during which an employee is not working, which are not counted as hours worked during the applicable workweek or other work period for purposes of overtime compensation, and for which the employee is compensated at the employee's regular rate.