Yes, almost always. Pest control technicians are non-exempt under federal law, so they earn 1.5 times their regular rate for every hour over 40 in a workweek. That holds for hourly, per-stop, commission and salaried pay alike. Paying a salary above the federal $684-a-week floor does not change that, because a technician’s job fails the duties tests. Some states add daily overtime on top.
Putting a senior tech on salary does not remove overtime, and neither does a stop rate that is meant to cover everything. The reasons are in the regulations.
The federal rule
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law on minimum wage and overtime. It covers businesses with at least $500,000 in annual sales, and individual employees whose work regularly involves interstate commerce even below that (DOL Fact Sheet #14).
A covered, non-exempt employee earns at least 1.5 times their regular rate for each hour over 40 in a workweek (Fact Sheet #23). Three details matter most:
- Each workweek stands alone. A 30-hour week and a 50-hour week do not average to 40. The 50-hour week owes 10 hours of overtime (29 CFR 778.104).
- The “regular rate” is not the base wage. It is the week’s total pay, including production bonuses, commissions and per-stop pay, divided by hours worked (Fact Sheet #56A, 29 CFR 778.111).
- Neither side can waive it. A tech who says they do not want overtime still has to be paid it, and comp time in place of overtime pay is allowed only for public agencies (Fact Sheet #7).
Why a salary does not make a technician exempt
Exemption from overtime needs three things: a salary of at least $684 a week ($35,568 a year), paid on a salary basis, and a job that meets one of the duties tests (Fact Sheet #17A, DOL salary levels). The salary alone settles nothing.
A route technician does not meet the duties tests. The regulations say the exemptions do not apply to manual laborers and other “blue collar” workers who learn their work through apprenticeships and on-the-job training, “no matter how highly paid they might be” (29 CFR 541.3).
The learned professional exemption does not fit either. It requires knowledge customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction, and it excludes occupations learned mainly through apprenticeship or experience (29 CFR 541.301). A state applicator license, however hard the exam, is not that.
Even the highly compensated employee rule, at $107,432 a year, applies only to employees whose primary duty includes office or non-manual work (29 CFR 541.601). A $110,000 technician is still owed overtime.
What about route managers?
A route manager can be exempt under the executive exemption, but only if the job is really management. The primary duty has to be managing the business or a recognized department, the manager has to customarily and regularly direct at least two full-time employees or the equivalent, and they need authority to hire or fire, or recommendations on those decisions that carry particular weight (Fact Sheet #17B). The salary has to be at least $684 a week, or more in the states below.
Plenty of route managers also run accounts. That is allowed, as long as management stays the primary duty (29 CFR 541.106). Spending more than half the time on management generally satisfies the test, but time is a guide, not the whole test (29 CFR 541.700). A “manager” who runs a full route and checks on two newer techs by phone is likely non-exempt.
Once a manager is treated as exempt, do not dock their salary for a partial day off. Deductions for personal absences are allowed only in full-day units (29 CFR 541.602).
State overtime rules, as of November 5, 2026
Several states go beyond the federal rule. Where state and federal law differ, pay whichever gives the employee more.
- California: 1.5 times after 8 hours in a workday and after 40 in a week, double time after 12 hours in a day, and special rules for the seventh consecutive day (DIR). An exempt employee must earn at least $70,304 a year in 2026 and $72,384 from January 1, 2027 (DIR).
- Alaska: overtime after 8 hours in a day or 40 in a week, except for employers with three or fewer employees. An exempt salary must be at least $1,120 a week, rising to $1,200 on July 1, 2027 (Alaska DOLWD, Pamphlet 100).
- Colorado: overtime after 12 hours in a day or 40 in a week (US DOL state table). The 2026 exempt salary is $1,111.23 a week ($57,784 a year) under the 2026 PAY CALC Order (7 CCR 1103-14).
- Nevada: for employees paid less than 1.5 times the $12.00 minimum wage, overtime after 8 hours in a workday unless they are on an agreed four-tens schedule, as well as after 40 in a week (NRS 608.018).
- Minnesota: state law sets overtime after 48 hours, but a company covered by the FLSA still pays after 40 (Minn. Stat. 177.25).
- Washington and New York set exempt salary levels well above the federal one: $1,541.70 a week in Washington for 2026, and $1,199.10 a week in upstate New York (WA L&I, NY DOL). Washington’s rises on January 1, 2027 to $1,773.00 a week for employers with 51 or more employees and $1,595.70 for 50 or fewer (WA L&I).
Utah follows the FLSA with no additional state overtime rule (US DOL).
Hours that get missed
The rate is only half the calculation. The other half is the hours, and hours worked off the clock never reach the timesheet.
The workday runs from the first principal activity to the last, so it can be longer than the scheduled shift, and travel from job site to job site during the day is work time (Fact Sheet #22). Ordinary home-to-work commuting is not. Applying that rule: if loading product at the shop is a required part of the job, the day generally starts there, and the drive to the first stop counts. Required paperwork finished at the kitchen table after the last stop counts too.
A hypothetical to show the cost. Say a tech is paid $20 an hour and logs 44 hours, but also spends 30 minutes a day, five days a week, loading the truck before clocking in. They actually worked 46.5 hours. Every one of the missing 2.5 hours falls above 40, so each is owed at $30: $75 a week. Over a 30-week season that is $2,250 for one tech, and it repeats for every tech on the same routine.
What to do this week
- List anyone you treat as exempt. For each, write down the actual primary duty and the weekly salary. Technicians on salary go straight to the non-exempt column.
- Check the salary of every exempt manager against your state’s level as well as the federal $684.
- Make the clock match the day: when the first principal activity happens, and how drive time between stops is captured.
- If you pay per stop, commission or bonuses, recheck how overtime is calculated. That math is in how to pay overtime on per-stop or commission pay.
SimplyHR checks route and production pay plans against the overtime rules for pest control companies, and job descriptions are part of the Foundation retainer. To see where your own pay setup stands, start with the free 12-question HR diagnostic or book a call.