If the employee is paid a base *hourly* rate (not an annual salary) and the employer docks pay if they work fewer hours, then the employee is, from the law's point of view, an hourly employee. If he is hourly, he MUST be paid overtime when he works more than  40 hours per week: all time over 40 hours is paid at the overtime rate of time-and-a-half. While there are other requirements (based on the nature of the job) to be exempt from overtime, the first and most basic requirement is the employee must be paid an annually salary, not wages based on hours worked. If you are not salaried--and if the employer alters pay based on hours worked, you are not salaried--you are not exempt and you must be paid overtime.