Alabama leaves almost all wage and hour rules to federal law. The state's own wage and hour notice says that Alabama has no state laws governing wage and hour issues, so the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the floor for pay and overtime. Child labor is the big exception: Alabama runs its own certificate, hours and recordkeeping program for workers under 18. The table below summarizes the rules most small employers ask about.
EZTime labor rule alerts flag overtime and missed rest periods before payroll.
| Topic | Rule |
|---|---|
| Minimum wage | $7.25 per hour (federal). U.S. DOL state table |
| Tipped employees | $2.13 cash wage plus tips must reach $7.25. U.S. DOL tipped table |
| Overtime | 1.5x regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek (FLSA). No daily overtime. U.S. DOL overtime |
| Meal breaks | None for adults. Ages 14-15: 30 minutes for shifts over 5 continuous hours. |
| Rest breaks | Not required by state law. |
| Paid sick leave | No state paid sick leave law; federal FMLA for covered employers. |
| Paydays | No state frequency requirement. U.S. DOL payday table |
| Final pay | No state deadline. |
| Child labor | Class I and Class II Child Labor Certificates required. Department of Workforce |
Alabama has never adopted a state minimum wage. According to the U.S. Department of Labor state minimum wage table (revised July 1, 2026), employers covered by the FLSA must pay the federal rate of $7.25 per hour. No state increase is scheduled for January 1, 2027; only a change by Congress would move the rate.
Coverage under the FLSA is broad. Per the DOL coverage fact sheet, an enterprise with at least two employees and annual sales or business of $500,000 or more is covered, and individual employees can be covered at smaller firms when their work regularly involves interstate commerce, such as calling customers in other states or handling records of interstate transactions.
Restaurants and other tipped businesses follow the federal tip-credit system. The DOL tipped minimum wage table lists Alabama at the federal values: a cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour, a maximum tip credit of $5.12, and a tipped employee definition of someone who regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips. If an employee's tips plus cash wage fall short of $7.25 for any workweek, you must make up the difference.
The federal Handy Reference Guide to the FLSA allows a minimum wage of $4.25 per hour for employees under 20 during their first 90 days, subject to rules that bar displacing other workers. Alabama has no separate state youth wage. Child labor rules, covered below, still apply to every worker under 18.
Overtime in Alabama is governed only by the FLSA. Non-exempt employees must receive at least one and one-half times their regular rate for every hour over 40 in a workweek. The DOL overtime page explains that weekend or holiday work does not trigger premium pay by itself, and hours cannot be averaged across two or more weeks. There is no daily overtime rule, so a 12-hour shift inside a 40-hour week does not earn a premium.
Executive, administrative, professional and outside sales employees can be exempt if they meet both the federal duties tests and the federal salary-basis rules. The federal Handy Reference Guide describes compensatory time off in place of cash overtime only for state and local government employers, so private businesses should plan on paying overtime in cash. Remember too that the regular rate includes all payments made by the employer to or on behalf of the employee, apart from certain statutory exclusions, which can push the overtime rate above 1.5 times base pay. Our FLSA overtime guide and overtime calculator walk through the math.
Alabama does not require meal or rest breaks for adult employees, and the DOL rest period table does not list the state. Breaks for adults are a matter of company policy. If you do offer short breaks of roughly 5 to 20 minutes, the DOL breaks page says federal law treats them as compensable work hours, while bona fide meal periods, typically 30 minutes or more, are not work time.
Minors are different. The Department of Workforce's child labor pamphlet requires a 30-minute break for any shift longer than 5 continuous hours for workers aged 14 and 15, and the break must appear in the employer's time records. The pamphlet sets no break requirement for workers 16 and older. Under the FLSA, most nursing employees are also entitled to reasonable break time and a private place to pump that is not a bathroom.
Alabama has no state law requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave, vacation or holiday pay. The Department of Workforce's FAQ on pay, breaks, vacation pay and FMLA sends these questions to the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. Any paid time off you offer is governed by your written policy, so state clearly how leave is earned, whether it carries over and whether unused balances are paid when someone leaves.
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) applies to employers with 50 or more employees and gives eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for qualifying family and medical reasons. A PTO accrual calculator can help you model a voluntary policy.
The DOL state payday table lists Alabama as having no regulations or requirements on pay frequency. In practice, you can choose weekly, biweekly, semimonthly or monthly paydays, but the FLSA still requires that minimum wage and overtime be paid on the regular payday for the workweek in which they were earned.
Alabama also has no statute setting a deadline for a final paycheck after an employee quits or is fired. The safest approach is to issue final wages no later than the next regular payday, including any accrued paid time off your written policy promises. The FLSA itself does not require immediate payment of final wages, but it does require accurate payroll records, and giving departing employees an itemized statement makes disputes much easier to resolve.
Alabama's child labor law is enforced by the Alabama Department of Workforce. According to its child labor page, you need a Class I Child Labor Certificate to employ 14- and 15-year-olds and a Class II Child Labor Certificate to employ 16- and 17-year-olds. The fee is $15 per business location, applications and renewals are online, and each certificate must be posted where the public can see it. No one under 14 may be employed, with a narrow exception for a sole owner's child doing non-hazardous work under the parent's direct supervision.
Students aged 16 to 18 enrolled in a public or private school may not work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on a night before a school day. A local school superintendent can grant individual exemptions. The pamphlet also lists more than two dozen occupations banned for anyone under 18, including roofing, demolition, driving heavy trucks, meat slicing and operating power-driven bakery machinery, plus extra limits for workers under 16. Federal child labor rules also apply, and when the two conflict, follow the stricter standard. The DOL child labor table gives a side-by-side summary.
The FLSA requires you to keep payroll and time records for non-exempt employees, including hours worked each day and week, pay rates and wages paid. Alabama adds its own requirements for minors: for every employee 18 or younger you must keep on site an Employee Information Form (or an equivalent file), proof of age such as a birth certificate or government ID, and time records showing daily hours, start and end times and break periods.
Display the Alabama Child Labor Law poster (2024 version or later) wherever minors work; English, Spanish and Chinese versions are on the Department of Workforce child labor page. You also need the federal FLSA minimum wage poster and other federal notices that apply to your business size.
Because Alabama relies on federal rules, clean weekly time records are your main protection in an overtime claim, and minors need break times recorded. EZTime gives you a GPS mobile time clock with geofencing, NFC tags, a shared tablet kiosk and biometric clocks, so every punch is tied to the right person and place. Build schedules from shift templates and let staff request swaps, while overtime and break alerts warn managers before a shift crosses a limit. PTO and sick-leave balances update automatically, and timesheets export as payroll-ready Excel or PDF files that work with any payroll software. See the attendance clock and scheduling software, or check pricing: plans start at $2 per employee per month with a 14-day trial.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Laws change; check the Alabama Department of Workforce or an employment attorney. Last reviewed November 2026.
Alabama has no state minimum wage law, so employers covered by the FLSA must pay the federal rate of $7.25 per hour. No state increase is scheduled for 2027.
No. Alabama follows the federal rule, which requires 1.5 times the regular rate only for hours over 40 in a workweek.
Not for adults. Workers aged 14 and 15 must get a 30-minute break for any shift longer than 5 continuous hours, and the break must be recorded.
Alabama has no state deadline for final pay. Paying all wages by the next regular payday is a sensible practice and keeps you aligned with federal payday expectations.
Yes. Employers need a Class I Child Labor Certificate for 14- and 15-year-olds and a Class II certificate for 16- and 17-year-olds, at $15 per location, posted in public view.