--- title: "Vermont Wage, Overtime & Meal Break Law 2026" description: "Vermont minimum wage $14.42 in 2026, CPI-indexed, overtime 1.5x after 40 hours, no daily overtime. Employer guide." canonical: https://www.teamed.global/country-hiring-guides/united-states/vermont/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law --- United States · Vermont · Wage & hour child Served by Teamed US Inc., Delaware · Payroll via SUNA Solutions # How do *Vermont wage, overtime and meal break laws* work in 2026? Vermont sets its own minimum wage and indexes it to inflation every January. The 2026 rate is $14.42, overtime is 1.5 times pay after 40 hours in a week, there is no daily overtime, and the meal-break rule is written in plain English rather than minutes. Last reviewed 6 June 2026 · Vermont, United States guide ![Burlington, Vermont waterfront on Lake Champlain at sunset, the Adirondacks across the water and Church Street market traders packing up below the Green Mountains.](/cluster-assets/country-hiring-guides/united-states/vermont/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law/images/hero.webp) Illustration · Burlington, Vermont Vermont writes its own wage floor and lifts it every 1 January by the consumer price index. For 2026 the minimum wage is **$14.42 an hour**, with a basic tipped cash wage of **$7.21**, set at half the full rate, for service staff in hotels, motels and restaurants. Overtime is **1.5 times pay after 40 hours** in a workweek, with **no daily overtime**. The break rule is qualitative: Vermont requires a reasonable chance to eat and use the toilet, not a fixed number of minutes, so policy and exemption are where the real risk sits. ## What is the Vermont minimum wage in 2026? The Vermont minimum wage is **$14.42 an hour** in 2026, up from $14.01 in 2025. The rate is set by state law under [21 V.S.A. § 384](https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/21/005/00384) and rises every 1 January by the lower of five percent or the change in the consumer price index, so it climbs on its own schedule, not the federal one. Service or tipped staff in hotels, motels and restaurants can be paid a basic cash wage of **$7.21 an hour**, which is half the full minimum. If tips do not lift total pay to $14.42, you make up the difference that pay period. Because the figure is indexed under [21 V.S.A. § 384](https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/21/005/00384), budget for a fresh rate each January. The $14.42 floor applies statewide: there is no separate city or county rate to track in Burlington, Montpelier or anywhere else. The [Vermont Department of Labor](https://labor.vermont.gov/wage-and-hour) posts the updated figure each autumn, so plan payroll on the assumption that the number moves up, not that it holds. The tip credit is the calculation that bites. A tipped worker paid $7.21 in cash must reach $14.42 an hour once tips are counted, and the burden of proving they got there sits with you. Track tips against the floor every pay period and top up any shortfall, or the credit can be disallowed in an audit and you pay the gap with penalties on top. ## How does overtime work in Vermont? Vermont pays overtime at **1.5 times** the regular wage rate after **40 hours in a workweek**, under [21 V.S.A. § 384](https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/21/005/00384). The threshold is the seven-day week, the same trigger the federal [FLSA](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa) uses. There is **no daily overtime in Vermont**. A worker can do a twelve-hour shift with no premium, as long as the week stays at or under 40 hours. Only hours actually worked past 40 count, so paid leave does not push someone into overtime. Vermont Department of Labor · 21 V.S.A. § 384 Hire someone in Vermont and you owe 1.5 times their regular wage rate for every hour they work past 40 in a workweek. There is no daily-overtime rule. Retail and service establishments, hotels, motels and restaurants, and certain other employers are exempt from the state overtime requirement under the statute, though those workers are usually still covered by the federal FLSA at the same rate. Source: [21 V.S.A. § 384, Vermont Statutes Online](https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/21/005/00384) The wrinkle in Vermont is the carve-out list. Even if a worker falls outside the state overtime rule, the [Fair Labor Standards Act](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa) usually lands at the same 1.5x rate after 40 hours, so you owe it anyway. The regular rate must also fold in non-discretionary bonuses and commissions, so overtime is calculated on total earnings, not base pay alone. Get the base wrong and every overtime hour is underpaid. Compare Vermont's approach to how [New York handles overtime](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/new-york/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law) or how [Massachusetts calculates premium pay](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/massachusetts/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law) to understand where Vermont is simpler. ## What are the meal and rest break rules in Vermont? Vermont's break rule is qualitative, not numerical. Under [21 V.S.A. § 304](https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/21/003/00304) you must give employees a **reasonable opportunity during work periods to eat and to use toilet facilities**. The statute fixes no minimum length, no count of breaks and no schedule. Because the law sets no minutes, timing and duration are at your discretion, but the duty is real. Deny a reasonable chance to eat or use the toilet and you can face a civil penalty, so the standard is reasonableness, not a number on a clock. This is where Vermont differs from a state that prescribes a thirty-minute meal break after a set number of hours. There is no fixed figure to schedule against; [§ 304](https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/21/003/00304) asks whether what you offered was reasonable for the length and nature of the shift. The safe reading is to give a genuine, uninterrupted chance to eat on any shift long enough to need one, and to document the policy so reasonableness is easy to show. Federal pay rules then decide what the break costs. Under [US DOL Wage & Hour guidance](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/22-flsa-hours-worked), a short rest break of 20 minutes or less counts as hours worked and is paid, so it folds into the 40-hour overtime count. A genuine meal break, where the employee is fully relieved of duty, can be unpaid. A working lunch at a desk is paid time, and an interrupted meal break you docked is back-pay waiting to happen. Either protect the break or pay for it. ## Who is exempt from overtime in Vermont? An employee is exempt from overtime only if they are paid at least **$684 a week** (**$35,568 a year**) on a salary basis and meet the [federal duties test](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime/rulemaking) for an executive, administrative or professional role. Vermont has no separate state salary test, so the federal floor governs. Salary alone is not enough. A worker earning over $684 a week who does not meet the duties test is still non-exempt and owed overtime after 40 hours. The $684 weekly threshold is the 2019 federal level, restored after the 2024 increase was struck down by a federal court in November 2024 and not replaced. So the in-force 2026 figure is $684 a week, or $35,568 a year, not the higher numbers some payroll tables still carry. Track the current status via the [US DOL Wage & Hour Division](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime), which publishes any rulemaking updates. Misclassification is the expensive Vermont error. If the salary or duties test is not met, every over-40-hour week becomes back-pay, and Vermont allows recovery of unpaid wages with additional damages. Test the duties, not just the salary, before you classify anyone as exempt. If Vermont is your first US hire, read the [US hiring overview](/country-hiring-guides/united-states) to understand how Vermont fits within the federal framework. ## How Teamed runs Vermont wage and hour compliance Teamed becomes your legal [employer of record](/lp/employer-of-record) in Vermont for [**from $599 per employee per month flat**](/pricing). **Zero FX mark-up**. We run the timesheet-to-payslip path so overtime, the indexed $14.42 floor and the tip credit are calculated correctly, every cycle. You set the schedule. Teamed applies the 1.5x rate after 40 hours, costs tipped roles against $7.21, and tests every salaried hire against the $684 exemption bar before it becomes back-pay. Everything runs on **one platform**. **Real HR and legal experts** handle your Vermont hires and know the January wage indexation, the tip-credit top-up and the regular-rate maths by heart. **An actual person, not a chatbot or a pooled queue.** Overtime, premium pay and any tip make-up are computed and **pass through at cost, itemised** on every invoice. **No setup fee, no exit fee.** Contractor onboarding, EOR payroll and entity graduation all live on one platform: a Vermont contractor who converts to W-2 keeps their record, and that same employee can **graduate** to your own US entity without switching systems. Also factor Vermont's broader obligations: the [state income tax and UI contributions](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/vermont/state-income-tax-and-unemployment-insurance) and [paid family and sick leave](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/vermont/paid-family-and-sick-leave) sit alongside the wage rules and all run through the same Teamed payroll engine. Use the [Crossover Calculator](https://www.teamed.global/tools/crossover-calculator) to see the month the model flips. EOR is the right model for a first Vermont hire, **until it isn't**. Teamed Client Operations The Vermont surprise for new employers is the moving wage floor. It is indexed, so it goes up every January, and a budget built on last year's rate is already wrong. We track the new figure, apply it from the first January payslip, and re-check tipped staff against it, so nobody is quietly paid under the floor when the rate steps up. A note from Tom Price-Daniel Vermont does not wait for Washington to move its wage floor. It indexes to inflation, so the minimum climbs every January, currently $14.42 an hour, with 1.5 times pay after 40 hours and no daily overtime. The break rule is written in plain words, not minutes. Reasonable, not measured. Get exemption and the indexed rate right and the rest is steady. Tom Price-Daniel · Co-founder, Teamed ## Related United States guides - [Vermont state tax & unemployment insurance](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/vermont/state-income-tax-and-unemployment-insurance)sibling - [Vermont paid family & sick leave](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/vermont/paid-family-and-sick-leave)sibling - [Hiring in the United States, overview](/country-hiring-guides/united-states)country parent - [New York wage, overtime & meal break law](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/new-york/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law)neighbour - [Massachusetts wage, overtime & meal break law](/country-hiring-guides/united-states/massachusetts/wage-overtime-and-meal-break-law)neighbour - [Employer of Record overview](/lp/employer-of-record)core - [Pricing, Zero FX Fixed](/pricing)core - [EOR vs Entity Crossover Calculator](https://www.teamed.global/tools/crossover-calculator)tool - [Employer Cost Calculator](https://www.teamed.global/tools/employer-cost)tool - [Talk to an expert](https://www.teamed.global/contact)CTA A note on this page. This is a guide, not legal advice. Vermont sets its own minimum wage, indexed annually under 21 V.S.A. § 384, and requires overtime at one and one-half times pay after 40 hours in a workweek, with no state daily-overtime rule. The meal-break duty in 21 V.S.A. § 304 is a reasonableness standard, not a fixed number of minutes. The federal exemption salary threshold sits with the US Department of Labor and can change when a rule is finalised or a court rules. Confirm specific figures with the Vermont Department of Labor, the US Department of Labor or your Teamed US specialist before relying on any number here.