At Amazon you’ll earn 1.5 times your normal rate of pay when working more than 40 hours in a given workweek.
This is mandated by federal law by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). It applies to every employee across all states.
States can also have additional rules for overtime, increasing your pay. For example:
- California: Employees can earn 1.5x overtime for working more than eight hours in one day. And if the employee works for seven days in a row during one workweek, they’re entitled to double their regular rate for hours worked past eight hours. Double time is also required if an employee works past 12 hours on any given work day.
- Colorado: Employees get paid 1.5x their regular rate as overtime pay if they work over 12 hours in one day.
To figure out the exact overtime that you’re owed, you’ll have to look up the overtime laws in your state.
How Overtime Pay Works at Amazon
Amazon’s workweek runs from Sunday through Saturday, so the company calculates hours during those days to determine overtime.
In most cases, Amazon pays a minimum of 1.5x overtime pay, although some employees may earn double overtime for working during peak periods. Some employees also have shift differentials that can affect their overtime rate and boost their overall earnings.
You’ll find a bunch of people talking about how Amazon always pays 2x for overtime pay. That was the case during the pandemic, Amazon voluntarily increased overtime pay. But that only lasted a few months. You might discover a department paying double overtime but that policy will be the exception.
How Much You Can Expect to Earn From Overtime at Amazon
Amazon has a minimum wage of $15/hour. Amazon also tends to restrict total working hours to 60/week. Here’s how much you can make it you max that out:
- 40 hours at $15/hour is $600
- 20 hours at $22.50/hour is $450
- That’s $1,050 per week or about $4,050 per month
- And a maximum of $54,600 per year
This assumes you work 60 hours every week all year long. No PTO, sick time, vacation days, or other types of leave.
So it is possible to make over $50K per year at Amazon’s minimum wage. You just need to max out your overtime every week.
If you’re able to get a few raises or a promotion, you could push this above $60K per year if you regularly work 60 hour weeks.
Who Qualifies for Overtime at Amazon?
In the HR world, we figure out who’s eligible for overtime by deciding if the role is exempt or nonexempt. It can get complicated but to drastically simplify things:
- Most hourly employees are eligible for overtime
- Most salaried employees are NOT eligible for overtime. Unless they earn under a certain amount per year.
Generally, if you’re working in an hourly role at Amazon, you’re eligible for overtime.
Amazon Flex workers—those who make deliveries for Amazon packages—are independent contractors (ICs). ICs are not eligible for overtime.
Instead, Amazon Flex workers set their own schedules and are never required to work past 40 hours a week. They can choose to, but they won’t receive overtime pay for doing so.
VET Shifts at Amazon
Amazon allows some employees to earn voluntary extra time (VET), which are additional hours workers can sign on for outside of their usual schedule.
If you don’t typically work Thursday for example, you could sign up for an unclaimed VET shift on that day.
These shifts aren’t mandatory, and they’re paid at an employee’s regular rate.
However, if the employee ends up getting overtime for the week due to that extra shift, they’re still eligible for overtime pay for any extra hours earned for a day or the workweek.
MET Shifts at Amazon
Some Amazon employees are also subject to MET, or mandatory extra time. MET is usually reserved for peak periods at Amazon, requiring employees to work a shift that puts them into overtime hours to assist with surges. MET hours count towards overtime.
Amazon is only required to let an employee know about a MET shift by lunch break the day before the shift. However, managers typically try to let staff know about an upcoming MET shift sooner.
If an employee can’t work their MET shift, termination is possible unless they have an excusable reason or want to use their accrued PTO instead.
Amazon Surge Pay
Amazon also has surge pay. This is for Amazon Flex drivers who pick up shifts during peak periods. Because Amazon Flex drivers aren’t eligible for overtime, their surge pay doesn’t affect their ability to get overtime.
How to Maximize Your Overtime at Amazon
Use these tips to get as much overtime as possible.
Don’t take PTO during any week you want overtime. PTO hours do NOT count towards overtime thresholds. Overtime only factors in working hours. Try to use your PTO during weeks that you don’t plan on pushing for overtime.
Respond to open shifts immediately. Here’s some intel that I found on Quora:
Sign up for the shift notifications, keep an eye on your phone during any week that you’re trying to rack up overtime, and respond immediately.
Try to avoid getting scheduled during shifts that have frequent no-shows. Pay attention to your team and figure out which days and periods have an above-average cancellation rate from your coworkers. If you’re already scheduled during those periods, you won’t be able to pick up another shift when it opens.
Transfer to an understaffed department. The more strain that normal scheduling is under, the more shifts you can pick up to boost your own hours. This can be a dangerous move though, there might be a good reason for why the department is understaffed (like a horrible boss or an imminent shutdown). Be careful with this one.
Try to get other pay bonuses to stack with overtime. The increase in overtime pay applies to the hours worked during overtime. If your department offers a bonus to your hourly rate to work a particular shift (like a holiday), you want that shift to be counted as overtime. Overtime will be applied to that larger hourly rate. If you normally make $15/hour but can make $20/hour during a special shift, the overtime rate during that shift will be $30/hour instead of your normal overtime rate of $22.50/hour. This can be tricky because you’ll need to rack up your 40 hours for the week before the shift with bonus pay.
