Static educational checklist — not a calculator. No punch grids, no 1,040 / 2,080 hour engines, no live CBA-guaranty math. Spot common FLSA § 7(b)(1)/(2) / 29 U.S.C. § 207(b)(1)/(2) collective-bargaining overtime guaranty red flags: when an NLRB-certified CBA may use the 26-week / 1,040-hour plan or the 52-week / 1,840–2,080-hour guaranty plan (with OT over 12 in a workday or 56 in a workweek), and when payroll wrongly parks ordinary after-40 overtime, Belo weekly guaranties, or petroleum § 7(b)(3) schedules under a “union overtime exception.” Distinct from the petroleum § 7(b)(3) Part 794, Belo § 7(f), hospital § 7(j) 8/80, fire/police § 7(k), and premium-credit cheat-sheet pages.
Baseline — what § 7(b)(1)/(2) require (and do not)
Under 29 U.S.C. § 207(b)(1) and § 207(b)(2), an employer is not deemed to violate the § 7(a) after-40 overtime rule solely because an employee works a longer workweek if the employee is employed pursuant to a collective-bargaining agreement made by representatives of employees certified as bona fide by the National Labor Relations Board, and the trailing statutory conditions are met. § 7(b)(1) requires a CBA that provides no employee shall be employed more than 1,040 hours during any period of 26 consecutive weeks. § 7(b)(2) requires a CBA that, during a specified period of 52 consecutive weeks, the employee shall be employed not more than 2,240 hours and shall be guaranteed not less than 1,840 hours (or not less than 46 weeks at the normal number of hours worked per week, but not less than 30 hours per week) and not more than 2,080 hours of employment, with compensation for guaranteed/worked hours at agreement rates and for hours in excess of the guaranty that are also in excess of the applicable maximum workweek under subsection (a) — or in excess of 2,080 in the period — at not less than 1½× the regular rate. For both paragraphs, the employee must also receive compensation for employment in excess of 12 hours in any workday or 56 hours in any workweek at not less than 1½× the regular rate. These are narrow CBA partial overtime arrangements — not a general “union contract waives overtime” rule, not Belo § 7(f), and not petroleum § 7(b)(3). This page does not compute CBA-guaranty overtime — it only flags compliance red flags.
Checklist — CBA guaranty § 7(b)(1)/(2) red flags
Non–NLRB-certified / non-CBA force-fits. Flag individual employment contracts, informal “shop customs,” company handbooks, or agreements with unions that were never certified as bona fide by the NLRB, then parked under § 7(b)(1) or (2) because “we have a union.” The statute’s gate is an agreement made as a result of collective bargaining by NLRB-certified representatives — not every labor deal or every written schedule.
1,040-in-26-week cap failures (§ 7(b)(1)). Flag “26-week averaging” folklore that still lets employees accumulate more than 1,040 hours in any consecutive 26-week window, floating start dates that dodge the cap, or plans that treat 1,040 as a soft target rather than a hard employment ceiling. Break the 1,040/26 gate and those weeks return toward ordinary § 7(a) overtime analysis.
1,840–2,080 / 2,240 annual-guaranty gate failures (§ 7(b)(2)). Flag 52-week plans that guarantee fewer than 1,840 hours (or that skip the 46-week / ≥30-hour alternative), that guarantee or bank more than 2,080 compensable hours without the statutory premium structure, or that let total employment exceed 2,240 hours in the specified period. Also flag missing specification of which 52 consecutive weeks apply.
Missing 12-daily / 56-weekly premiums. Flag CBA handbooks that treat the 1,040 or 1,840–2,080 framework as wiping daily and weekly overtime entirely. Both § 7(b)(1) and § 7(b)(2) still require 1½× the regular rate for hours over 12 in a workday or over 56 in a workweek. A plan that pays only straight time on a 14-hour day fails the trailing statutory condition even if the annual caps look tidy.
§ 7(b)(2) “excess of guaranty + excess of weekly max” mixups. Flag payroll that pays 1½× on every hour over 40 every week under a claimed § 7(b)(2) plan (collapsing back into ordinary § 7(a)), or the opposite — that never premiums hours that both exceed the guaranty and exceed the applicable maximum workweek, and never premiums hours over 2,080 in the period. The statutory excess-of-guaranty / excess-of-2,080 premium language is not optional window dressing.
Belo § 7(f) / weekly-guaranty collapses. Flag manuals that paste a Belo-style weekly pay guaranty (≤60 hours, irregular-hours individual or CBA contract under § 7(f)) onto a § 7(b)(1)/(2) multi-week hour-cap / annual-guaranty plan — or the reverse. Belo answers a different question with a different weekly-guaranty ceiling; § 7(b)(1)/(2) are multi-week / annual CBA hour frameworks with 12/56 daily-weekly premiums.
Petroleum § 7(b)(3) / hospital 8/80 / fire-police § 7(k) mixups. Flag “§ 7(b)” folklore that treats petroleum Part 794 12/56 wholesale-bulk schedules, hospital § 7(j) 8-and-80 agreements, or public-agency fire/LE § 7(k) work periods as interchangeable with CBA 1,040 / 2,080 guaranty plans. § 7(b)(1)/(2) are NLRB-certified CBA hour-cap / guaranty provisions; § 7(b)(3) is a private local petroleum-distribution partial exemption; § 7(j) / § 7(k) are separate hospital and public-safety systems.
State-floor / daily-OT overlays. Flag multi-state employers that assume a federal § 7(b)(1)/(2) plan also erases a stricter state daily-OT, seventh-day, or weekly threshold for the same hours (for example California LC 510 or Kentucky KRS 337.050 floors). Federal CBA partial overtime arrangements do not automatically erase stricter state floors where they apply.
Stub / regular-rate / CBA-proof gaps. Flag wage statements that never show which hours were claimed under a § 7(b)(1) 26-week window or a § 7(b)(2) guaranty period, missing copies of the NLRB-certified CBA hour-cap / guaranty clauses, no running 26-week or 52-week hour tallies, regular-rate recomputation skipped when nondiscretionary bonuses or shift differentials land in the same workweek, and 12/56 premiums buried inside “union rate” lines with no audit trail. Without CBA proof and clear stubs, every long week becomes an after-40 fight.