What Is a Workweek? Legal Definition and Examples

Do you understand how a workweek is determined? Employees may be expected to work on Monday through Friday and have Saturdays and Sundays off. But, is a workweek bookended with Mondays and Fridays, since that’s when employees work? 

By definition, a workweek must account for all days in a given week, including days employees do not work. 

Properly tracking your workweek isn’t just great for payroll accuracy; following working weeks properly helps businesses stay in compliance with DOL and FLSA rules and regulations. 

What Is a Workweek?

As previously mentioned, many of us get up on a Monday morning, eat breakfast, get dressed, brush our teeth, grab a cup of coffee, and punch the time clock to start the workweek. Eventually, Friday rolls around, and our week comes to an end. But, what about those who work the weekends or don't start their workweeks on a Monday?

Fortunately, the DOL's website answers this question, and it's pretty simple to understand.  

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) defines a workweek as "a period of 168 hours during seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It may begin on any day of the week and at any hour of the day established by the employer. Generally, for minimum wage and overtime payment purposes, each workweek stands alone; there can be no averaging of two or more workweeks. Employee coverage, compliance with wage payment requirements, and the application of most exemptions will be determined on a workweek basis." (Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, "Handy Reference Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act.")

What Are Considered Hours Worked in a Workweek?

The FLSA requires that covered employees be compensated for the hours in which they have worked in a workweek, including overtime hours. According to the FLSA, hours worked include all time an employee is required to be on duty or the employer’s property. Other labeled places of work start from the beginning of the first initial activity of the workday to the end of the last work activity of the workday.

Some companies and other industries may classify a working week based on 32 hours, 36 hours, or 40 hours. Also, don’t forget those working upwards of 50 to 60 hours per week who may be entitled to overtime pay. 

How to Determine if Employees Are Covered by the FLSA

Employees of specific enterprises with workers who participate in selling, handling, or otherwise work on goods or materials that are moved or produced for commerce by any person, and interstate commerce, are FLSA covered employees. 

Additionally, an enterprise is covered if its related activities performed through unified operation or common control by any person include:

• Persons whose annual gross volume of sales made or business done is not less than $500,000 — exclusive of excise taxes at the retail level that is separately stated.
• Persons who are engaged in the operation of a hospital, including institutions that are primarily engaged in the care of the aged, sick, or mentally ill and reside on the premises. Schools for mentally or physically disabled or gifted children; a preschool, an elementary or secondary school, or an institution of higher education, whether operated for profit or not-for-profit.
• A person who is active in a public agency.

Service employees who are domestic, such as chauffeurs, housekeepers, day workers, full-time babysitters, cooks, etc., are covered if:

• Employees work a total of more than eight hours per week for at least one employer.
• Employees’ cash wages from one employer in a calendar year are $3,000 or more (the 2026 threshold, which is adjusted annually). 

It is essential to note employees of firms that are not considered as covered enterprises under the FLSA still may be subject to recordkeeping, overtime pay, minimum, and child labor provisions if they’re individually engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for interstate commerce, or in any closely-related process or occupation directly essential to such production.

This data was collected from Handy Reference Guide to the FLSA.

Tracking Your Workweek, and Why It’s Important

An employer must keep track of its workweek and stay within FLSA overtime compliance for nonexempt employees who are typically owed overtime wages based on hours worked over the overtime threshold. An employee who classifies as nonexempt is owed time and a half per FLSA’s standard 40-hour workweek. 

It’s crucial to note overtime wages are based on a workweek and not a calendar year to ensure employers remain compliant with the FLSA and state law.

What Is the Department of Labor (DOL)?

The U.S. DOL is defined by Wikipedia as a cabinet-level department of the U.S. federal government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, reemployment services, and some economic statistics; many U.S. states also have such departments. (Source: "United States Department of Labor," Wikipedia.)  

The DOL was founded on March 4, 1913, while its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C., and is headed by the U.S. Secretary of Labor.

According to the DOL website, the organization's mission is to "foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the U.S.; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.” (Source: "Our Mission," United States Department of Labor.)

Overall, the DOL is designed to protect you and make for a better day while you are on the clock.

A Solution to Tracking a Workweek

A reliable time tracking software is a great way to help aid in tracking workweeks. Modern time and attendance tracking will allow for accurate PTO calculation, eliminating payroll errors, track overtime hours worked, and help business owners to abide by the DOL and FLSA laws.