In Williams v. General Nutrition Centers, Inc., the Connecticut Supreme Court recently stated that employers must calculate overtime for a fluctuating work week (“FWW”) schedule based on state, rather than federal, overtime rules.

There, GNC followed federal rules and divided the employees’ weekly pay by the actual number of hours the employees worked in that week to determine the employees’ regular rate of pay. However, the court stated that Connecticut requires employers to divide weekly pay by the number of hours the employees usually work each week, rather than actual hours.  In following the federal model, the GNC employees would always work over 40 actual hours per week when overtime is involved.  Thus, the number of actual hours would be greater than the usual hours worked, and the resulting calculation for the regular rate of pay would always be lower than if the usual hours were used to calculate rates.

Connecticut employers with FWW schedules should review overtime calculation methods to ensure compliance with the recent ruling.