Summer Work and Travel Pay: Minimum Wage, Overtime and Deductions

Your pay is set by US wage law, not by whatever the employer offers you at the interview. The program adds its own checks on top. This page covers the pay floor, a state-by-state table, overtime, tips, deductions and what to do when a paycheck is wrong. The jobs hub covers the rest of your work life.

The short version

1. Check that your pay is at least the higher of the federal, state or local minimum wage.
2. Look up your state’s minimum wage before you accept a job.
3. Ask for overtime pay after 40 hours in a workweek.
4. Keep your job offer and every pay stub.
5. Call the wage hotline if your pay is wrong.

What is the minimum pay on Summer Work and Travel?

The floor is the higher of two things. Sponsors must inform participants of federal, state and local minimum wage requirements and ensure that they are paid at least the higher of the applicable federal, state or local minimum wage, including overtime, or pay and benefits commensurate with those offered to similarly situated US workers. The State Department program page repeats the duty to inform participants of federal minimum wage requirements.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour for covered nonexempt workers, effective July 24, 2009. Employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay it. Where a worker is subject to both state and federal minimum wage laws, the worker is entitled to the higher one.

Sponsors must ensure participants are paid at that floor. Substantially commission-based jobs are excluded because they do not guarantee that participants will be paid minimum wage under federal and state standards. Read 22 CFR 62.32 for the full wording.

State minimum wage rates

A number of jurisdictions set a rate above the federal one. Rates change, so confirm your state on the Department of Labor page before you accept a job. Figures below are from that page as updated July 1, 2026.

New York lists $17.00 in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties and $16.00 in the rest of the state. Oregon lists $15.55 as the standard rate, $16.80 in the Portland metro area and $14.55 in non-urban counties. Georgia and Wyoming list $5.15, below the federal rate. Employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, and an employee covered by both state and federal minimum wage laws is entitled to the higher one. A state with no minimum wage law of its own falls under the same federal rule.

Hours on your job offer

Employers must make good-faith efforts to provide the number of paid hours per week named on your job offer and agreed to when the sponsor vetted the job. The State Department lists the same duty for host employers.

Federal law does not cap how many hours employees aged 16 and older may work in a workweek. Night work is different: jobs requiring hours that fall predominantly between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. are excluded from the program. See the prohibited jobs list.

How overtime works

Overtime follows federal law and any stricter state law. Employers must pay eligible participants for overtime under applicable state or federal law. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, covered employees who are not exempt must receive overtime pay for hours over 40 in a workweek, at not less than time and one-half their regular pay rate.

Four details protect you:

• The overtime requirement may not be waived by agreement between you and the employer.
• Averaging of hours over two or more weeks is not permitted.
• Overtime earned in a workweek is normally paid on the regular payday for the period in which the wages were earned.
• When an employee earns different rates in the same week, overtime is computed from the average hourly rate derived from those earnings.

A workweek is any fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours. The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on weekends, holidays or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on those days. The State Department’s pamphlet for temporary workers gives the plain-language version: if you work more than 40 hours a week, your employer may need to pay you 1.5 times your regular pay for the extra hours. That pamphlet is written for temporary workers in general, not only for Summer Work and Travel participants.

Tips and the tip credit

If you work for tips, the cash wage can be lower than the minimum wage, but only up to a limit. The FLSA allows employers who meet certain criteria to take a partial credit against their minimum wage obligations for tipped employees. An employer must pay a tipped worker at least $2.13 per hour. The tip credit equals the difference between that cash wage and the federal minimum wage, and the maximum credit an employer can currently claim is $5.12 per hour.

Your tips must make up the difference. Employers claiming a tip credit must be able to show in each workweek that tipped employees receive at least the full federal minimum wage. Only tips actually received by the employee count. The tip credit will not apply to any tipped employee unless the employee has been informed of the tip credit provisions. An employer that fails to provide the required information cannot take the credit.

Your tips belong to you. An employer may not require an employee to give tips to the employer, a supervisor or a manager. The FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees’ tips. It does not limit the percentage or amount of each employee’s contribution in valid mandatory tip pools.

Deductions: what can and cannot come out of your check

Before you arrive, your sponsor must send details of the job, including wages, other compensation and benefits, and deductions from wages, including those taken for housing and transportation. It must also describe housing, including what is provided or available and the expected cost to you. It must give you an itemized list of all fees you will pay. Compare the first pay stub with those lists.

Some costs cannot be shifted to you. An employer usually cannot take from your paycheck or make you pay for your uniforms, safety equipment, required tools, supplies, equipment or recruitment fees. Your employer must also pay you for all work you do. Wages count as paid only if they are paid finally and unconditionally, or free and clear.

Housing or meals the employer provides can be counted toward wages only at reasonable cost. Reasonable cost is not more than the actual cost to the employer of the board, lodging or other facilities. It does not include a profit to the employer or to any affiliated person. Costs that are not reasonable may not be included in computing wages. The taxes page explains what tax is taken from wages.

Pay records and pay stubs

Employers must keep employee time and pay records. Under the recordkeeping rules the records include total hours worked each workweek, total wages paid each pay period, the date of payment and the pay period covered, and all additions to or deductions from pay. Employers must preserve payroll records for at least three years. Records on which wage computations are based should be retained for two years.

Keep your own copy of your job offer, your hours and each pay stub. Sponsors must help prepare you for your stay, with topics such as how to open a bank account and employee rights and laws, including workers’ compensation.

If your pay is wrong

Your sponsor must monitor your welfare and the site of your activity. It must also provide appropriate assistance as needed and be available to you as a facilitator, counselor and information resource.

You can call 1-866-487-9243 with questions or concerns about wages and your paycheck. Gather the information you will need before you file a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division. Many investigations are initiated by complaints, which are confidential. Your employer cannot retaliate, harass, intimidate or take negative action against you for asking about your pay and hours, filing a complaint or cooperating with a Wage and Hour investigation. Your employer also cannot fire you, mistreat you or refuse to pay you for exercising your rights.

Employers must also display a poster outlining the requirements of the FLSA. If you need to change jobs, the new job must be vetted before you start it, as the second job page explains.