Public Safety 7(k) Overtime Calculator
Work out firefighter and police overtime under the FLSA 7(k) exemption. Get the 29 CFR 553.230 hour threshold, overtime pay, and comp time hours.
Public Safety 7(k) Overtime Calculator
Role
29 CFR 553.230 sets a different maximum hours standard for each. Law enforcement expressly includes security personnel in correctional institutions.
Work Period Length (Days)
Your department's declared FLSA work period: ask payroll or check your contract. This is not your pay period and not your shift cycle.
Total Hours Worked in the Period
Hours actually worked. Paid vacation, sick leave, and holiday leave generally do not count toward the FLSA threshold, though your contract may count them toward contractual overtime.
Hourly Rate
Use your FLSA regular rate, not base pay. Longevity pay, shift differential, EMT, paramedic and hazmat certification pay, and non-discretionary bonuses all raise it. Work it out with the regular rate of pay calculator.
Overtime Hours You Are Taking as Comp Time
Overtime hours your agency is paying as time off instead of cash. Each one banks 1.5 hours.
Threshold from 29 CFR 553.230. Hours worked only: paid leave does not count toward the FLSA threshold.
Estimates only, before any deductions. The hourly rate you entered stands in for your FLSA regular rate.
If the Plain 40-Hour Rule Applied Instead
This is a scale comparison only. The 40-hour rule is applied to each separate workweek, not pro-rated across a 7 to 28 day period, so a real 40-hour-rule calculation would depend on how the hours fell week by week.
Log Your 24/48 and 48/96 Shifts
Timeclock44 tracks every shift per job with your own overtime multiplier and week-start day, then exports a PDF or CSV timesheet when payroll disputes the period.
How the 7(k) overtime threshold works
Section 7(k) of the FLSA (29 U.S.C. 207(k)) is a partial exemption, not a full one. You stay non-exempt. Minimum wage, recordkeeping, and the 1.5 times premium all still apply. The only thing the 207(k) exemption changes is when overtime starts: instead of 40 hours in a workweek, overtime begins once you pass a maximum hours standard set for an FLSA work period of 7 to 28 consecutive days.
Check first whether the exemption applies to you at all. Only public agencies can use it, so a private ambulance company or a private industrial fire brigade is out, and the agency has to have actually established the work period. It is not automatic and it cannot be applied after the fact. If your department never declared a period, the ordinary 40-hour workweek rule governs and the agency may owe back overtime for every hour over 40 in each workweek.
The two headline numbers: a firefighter overtime calculation on a 28-day work period starts overtime at 212 hours, and a police overtime calculation on the same period starts at 171 hours. Every other period length has its own published figure, which is what this calculator looks up. For the background on how the exemption came about and how it is applied, read our guide to police and firefighter overtime under the FLSA.
The 7(k) numbers are a floor. Plenty of departments pay better than the federal minimum, usually at 40 hours a week or at the scheduled-shift line, through a collective bargaining agreement or state law. If your contract beats the federal number, nothing is wrong.
The full 29 CFR 553.230 threshold table
29 CFR 553.230 publishes a maximum hours standard for every work period length from 7 to 28 days, in two columns: one for employees engaged in fire protection activities, one for employees engaged in law enforcement activities (including security personnel in correctional institutions). Most calculators publish only 53, 106, and 212 and leave you to interpolate. Here is the whole table.
| Work period (days) | Fire protection (max hours) | Law enforcement (max hours) |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | 212 | 171 |
| 27 | 204 | 165 |
| 26 | 197 | 159 |
| 25 | 189 | 153 |
| 24 | 182 | 147 |
| 23 | 174 | 141 |
| 22 | 167 | 134 |
| 21 | 159 | 128 |
| 20 | 151 | 122 |
| 19 | 144 | 116 |
| 18 | 136 | 110 |
| 17 | 129 | 104 |
| 16 | 121 | 98 |
| 15 | 114 | 92 |
| 14 | 106 | 86 |
| 13 | 98 | 79 |
| 12 | 91 | 73 |
| 11 | 83 | 67 |
| 10 | 76 | 61 |
| 9 | 68 | 55 |
| 8 | 61 | 49 |
| 7 | 53 | 43 |
The published figures are rounded to the nearest whole hour per row, so you cannot reproduce the table by scaling 212 or 171 down from 28 days. Take a 23-day law enforcement period. Scaling gives 140.46; the regulation says 141. This calculator reads the published values instead of computing them.
Comp time, sleep time, and what actually counts as hours worked
Start with comp time. Under 29 U.S.C. 207(o), a state or local agency may grant compensatory time off at not less than 1.5 hours for each hour of overtime work, in lieu of cash overtime, if an agreement was in place before the work was performed. Public safety employees can bank up to 480 hours; other public employees cap at 240. That "in lieu of" wording is why total gross pay on this page drops when you enter comp time hours: a converted overtime hour pays no cash and buys 1.5 hours off. Agencies do vary. Some pay straight time on comp'd hours and bank only the half-time premium as leave. This calculator uses the statutory default, so check your contract if your department does it the other way.
Sleep time is where 24-hour shifts get argued about. Under 29 CFR 553.222, on a tour of duty of exactly 24 hours or less, every hour counts, bunk-room hours included. Exclusion is possible only on tours longer than 24 hours, it takes an agreement, and it stops at 8 hours. Calls that interrupt the sleep period count as hours worked. If the period is broken up so badly that the employee cannot get at least 5 hours of sleep, the whole period counts as work.
Meal time splits by role under 29 CFR 553.223. Fire protection employees confined to a duty station cannot have meal time excluded on a tour of 24 hours or less. Law enforcement employees can, provided they are completely relieved from duty. On tours longer than 24 hours, either role may exclude meal time when the ordinary test is met.
One more input worth getting right: the hourly rate field stands in for the FLSA regular rate, which is usually higher than base pay. Longevity, shift differential, certification pay, and non-discretionary bonuses all fold in before the 1.5 multiplier. Build it properly with the regular rate of pay calculator. Every figure on this page is gross pay before deductions. For how overtime is treated at tax time, see our guide to police and firefighter overtime under the FLSA.
24/48, 48/96, and why your schedule is not your work period
A 48/96 rotation averages 56 hours a week, and a 24/48 rotation averages the same. Neither number is your threshold. The work period is whatever your department declared, commonly 27 days for a 48/96 and 24 or 28 days for a 24/48, and the threshold comes from that declared length.
Work one 48/96 example end to end. You log 216 hours worked in a 27-day work period as a fire protection employee. The table gives a 204-hour threshold, so 216 minus 204 leaves 12 overtime hours, paid at 1.5 times your regular rate. Now compare the default case on this page: a 24/48 rotation logging 224 hours in a 28-day period hits a 212-hour threshold and also produces 12 overtime hours. Same overtime number, completely different schedules and thresholds. Plug 40 hours a week into a generic calculator and you get public safety pay wrong.
The practical problem is proof. Shift trades, holdovers, and callbacks are the hours most often missing when a 7(k) period is disputed. Download Timeclock44 to log your 24/48 and 48/96 shifts as you work them, then export a PDF or CSV timesheet you can hand to payroll or your union rep.
Disclaimer: Estimates only. This calculator is for informational purposes and is not tax, legal, or HR advice. 7(k) eligibility, declared work periods, comp time agreements, and what counts as hours worked all vary by agency, jurisdiction, and collective bargaining agreement. Confirm your own figures with your payroll department, your union representative, or a qualified attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about public safety 7(k) overtime calculator
What is the FLSA 7(k) exemption?
Section 7(k) of the FLSA (29 U.S.C. 207(k)) is a partial overtime exemption available only to public agencies with employees engaged in fire protection or law enforcement activities. It does not make you exempt. It swaps the 40-hour workweek for a regularly recurring work period of 7 to 28 consecutive days and sets a maximum hours standard for that period under 29 CFR 553.230. Overtime past that standard is still paid at 1.5 times the regular rate.
How many hours before firefighters get overtime?
For fire protection employees it is 212 hours in a 28-day work period, 106 hours in 14 days, and 53 hours in 7 days. For law enforcement it is 171, 86, and 43. The number depends entirely on the length of the work period your agency declared, not on any single week. The full 22-row table is on this page.
Is sleep time paid for firefighters on 24-hour shifts?
On a tour of duty of exactly 24 hours or less, every hour counts as hours worked, bunk-room hours included. Sleep time can be excluded only on tours longer than 24 hours, and even then it takes an agreement and stops at 8 hours (29 CFR 553.222). Calls that interrupt sleep count as work. If the period gets chopped up so badly that the employee cannot get at least 5 hours of sleep, the whole thing counts as work.
Are meal breaks counted in firefighter and police overtime?
It depends on the role. For fire protection employees confined to a duty station, meal time cannot be excluded on a tour of 24 hours or less. For law enforcement, meal time may be excluded on tours of 24 hours or less if the employee is completely relieved from duty (29 CFR 553.223). On tours longer than 24 hours, either role may exclude meal time when the ordinary 29 CFR 785.19 test is met.
Can a city give comp time instead of overtime pay?
Yes. Under 29 U.S.C. 207(o), a state or local agency may grant compensatory time off at not less than 1.5 hours for each overtime hour, in lieu of cash, provided an agreement was in place before the work was performed. Public safety employees can bank up to 480 hours; other public employees cap at 240. Past the cap the agency must pay cash. Our comp time calculator tracks the balance.
What if my department never set a 7(k) work period?
Then the ordinary 40-hour workweek rule applies and overtime is owed for every hour over 40 in each workweek. The 7(k) exemption is not automatic and cannot be applied after the fact: the agency has to have established a regularly recurring period of 7 to 28 consecutive days and actually used it. Run those hours through our overtime calculator instead.
Does 7(k) apply to dispatchers, EMTs, or correctional officers?
29 CFR 553.230(b) covers employees engaged in law enforcement activities, including security personnel in correctional institutions, so correctional officers are inside the law enforcement column. Dispatchers and other civilian support staff are generally outside it. EMS personnel qualify only when they are trained in and assigned to a fire protection or law enforcement unit. Our FLSA exemption checker covers the wider exemption questions.
Does my union contract override the 7(k) thresholds?
A contract can never pay less than the FLSA floor, but it can pay more, and many do. Plenty of agencies pay overtime at 40 hours a week or at the scheduled-shift line through a collective bargaining agreement or state law. 7(k) is the minimum, not the ceiling, so a more generous contract is not a sign that something is wrong.