It might be frustrating to learn that you cannot have comp time, even if you and your employer both want it. But overtime laws help discourage employers from overworking employees instead of hiring people when they're needed. A system that is voluntary and permits employees to choose the option best for them (overtime pay or time off) might seem ideal. In reality, however, most workers have little say in their hours or working conditions and are unlikely to be able to exercise an option that is not in the employer's best interest. Workers who want time off instead of overtime pay are not completely without options if their employers want to accommodate them. You and your employer can accomplish this goal by rearranging the work schedule within the same week that you work overtime. For example, a worker who normally works an eight-hour day, Monday to Friday, needs to work several 10-hour days to meet a deadline. Since overtime pay only kicks in when a worker has spent more than 40 hours on the job in a particular workweek, the worker could work 10 hours each day between Monday and Thursday, and take Friday off. The worker would still be paid for a 40-hour workweek, with no overtime pay due. Another way to achieve the same outcome is to receive overtime pay in one week, and then reduce the number of hours worked the next week so that the worker's paycheck remains constant. For example, if a worker who makes $10 per hour works fifty hours during the first week of their pay period, their gross weekly paycheck will amount to $550 (40 hours paid at $10, plus 10 hours paid at the time-and-a-half rate, $15.) If the worker worked only 25 hours during the second week of the pay period, the worker would earn $250 in gross pay, but their paycheck would be the same ($800) at the end of the two-week pay period. Notice, however, that under this arrangement, the employee must take time off at the time-and-a-half rate applicable to overtime hours, and not simply hour-for-hour.