Arkansas · rules verified
Arkansas Overtime Calculator
Arkansas pays overtime after 40 hours a week — the same trigger as the FLSA — under a state law that covers employers with four or more employees. Its $11.00 minimum wage has not moved since 2021, and Arkansas taxes overtime in full.
Arkansas workweek
Bonus, shift pay & state options
$1,153.90
50 h worked · 10 h at 1.5×
| Straight-time pay (all hours + bonus) | $1,049.00 |
|---|---|
| Overtime premium at 1.5× | $104.90 |
| Double-time premium at 2× | $0.00 |
| Total for the week | $1,153.90 |
Your no-tax-on-overtime deduction
Arkansas (2026): taxes all overtime — no state deduction.
Who the Arkansas wage law reaches
The state Minimum Wage Act applies to employers of four or more employees; smaller employers are bound only if the FLSA covers them. The rate rose in steps from $8.50 in 2017 to $11.00 in 2021, and nothing in the U.S. DOL table points to an automatic adjustment, so $11.00 holds until the law changes.
The Division of Labor’s claim limits
Arkansas’s Division of Labor will not take a wage claim if the amount in dispute is more than $2,000 or if you earn more than $50,000 a year, and a claim found to exceed either limit during investigation is closed. Expect the process to take at least 90 days. Larger or higher-paid claims belong in court — the Division points people to Small Claims Court, where no attorney is needed.
Why overtime stays taxable
Arkansas builds its own income figure from W-2 wages and its 2025 instructions offer no overtime subtraction. HB 1822, the “Overtime but not Overtaxed Act”, would have exempted overtime from 2026 but died in a House committee at sine die. The 2026 special session cut the top individual rate to 3.7% instead.
Example week
Arkansas’s median hourly wage was $20.98 in May 2025; this is a 50-hour week at that rate.
| Day | Hours | Regular | 1.5× | 2× |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Tue | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Wed | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Thu | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Fri | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
Minimum wage path
| 2016 | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2024 | Now | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.00 | 8.50 | 10.00 | 11.00 | 11.00 | 11.00 | — |