Distributed Workforce Overtime Risk Diagnostic

The Assessment

For each question, pick the answer that best describes your organization today and note its points. Add up your points as you go. Your total maps to a result band below.

1. 1

   How many states does your workforce currently operate in?

   State count is the primary driver of overtime rule complexity and interaction risk.

   • 6 or more states with a mix of daily-OT, double-time, and biweekly-cap rules0 pts
   • 3 to 5 states, at least one with daily overtime rules (California, Alaska, Colorado, or Nevada)1 pt
   • 2 states, neither of which has daily overtime rules beyond the federal FLSA weekly threshold2 pts
   • 1 state only, with federal FLSA as the sole overtime obligation3 pts
2. 2

   Does your organization have any employees physically working in California, Alaska, Colorado, or Nevada?

   Presence in daily-OT states triggers obligations that the federal FLSA does not require, creating a separate rule layer.

   • Yes, in two or more of these states, and we are not confident which daily thresholds apply0 pts
   • Yes, in one of these states, and we manually calculate daily overtime1 pt
   • Yes, in one of these states, and our payroll system handles the daily threshold automatically

Score Yourself

Add up the points from every answer. Your total falls between 0 and 30. Find your band below.

• 0 to 8 points

  Remote-First Compliance Laggard

  Your organization lacks the foundational data infrastructure for defensible multi-state overtime calculations. State-of-work tagging is absent or unreliable, daily hours may not be captured with sufficient granularity, and premium rate selection depends heavily on individual judgment. In a DOL audit, you would likely be unable to produce state-specific records demonstrating that the correct overtime rule was applied to each employee's hours.

  Next step: Begin by implementing state-of-work tagging in your timekeeping system for every employee and establishing a documented state-by-state overtime rule register before your next payroll cycle.

• 9 to 15 points

  Daily-OT Exposure Firm

  Your organization has some time-capture infrastructure in place, but daily overtime obligations in states like California, Alaska, Colorado, or Nevada are handled through manual adjustments rather than automated rules. This creates a high misclassification risk for daily and double-time premiums. Your payroll corrections likely spike whenever employees work in daily-OT states, and your audit trail has gaps that would be difficult to explain to a DOL investigator.

  Next step: Prioritize configuring your payroll system to apply daily overtime thresholds automatically for every state in your footprint, starting with California's 8-hour daily and 12-hour double-time triggers.

• 16 to 23 points

  Multi-Tier Complexity Organization

  Your systems capture most of the data needed for multi-state compliance, but manual overrides, incomplete state-of-work verification for traveling or remote employees, and occasional gaps in your rule register prevent full automation. You are better positioned than most organizations, but the remaining manual steps introduce error risk that compounds as your state footprint grows. Your audit readiness is adequate for most scenarios but may not withstand scrutiny on edge cases like mid-week state changes.

What to Do Next

Multi-state overtime compliance is not a one-time project. As your workforce footprint shifts and state laws change, the gap between your current systems and your actual obligations can widen without warning. EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software built this diagnostic to help HR, Payroll, and Operations leaders identify where that gap lives today. For a deeper look at your compliance maturity across four dimensions, take the Multi-State Overtime Compliance Readiness Assessment. To quantify the financial case for automating your overtime rule application, run the Overtime Automation ROI Calculator at easyclocking.com.

• Multi-State Overtime Compliance Readiness Assessment
• Overtime Automation ROI Calculator
• Time-Capture Accuracy Benchmark Comparator