How many hours is part time? Under 30 for the ACA, under 35 for the BLS, and the same overtime rule as everyone else

The short answer

Part time is not defined in federal wage law. The Department of Labor says the FLSA does not define full-time or part-time employment, and that the label does not change how the FLSA applies. Two official numbers exist for other purposes:

• Under 30 hours a week (under 130 a month): not a full-time employee under the Affordable Care Act, which matters at employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees.
• Under 35 hours a week: part-time for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is where the figures in news reports come from.

Everything else is the employer's own line, usually set between 30 and 40 hours in the handbook. A 32-hour employee can be part-time at one company and full-time at the next.

What part-time employees are owed, whatever the number

The label changes benefits. It does not change wage law.

Minimum wage and overtime. Same as everyone: at least the federal or state minimum for every hour, and time and a half after 40 hours in the workweek for non-exempt employees. A part-timer who covers extra shifts and hits 44 hours is owed 4 hours of overtime. Daily overtime in California and a few other states applies to them too.

Breaks. State break laws apply by hours worked in the day, not by status. In California a part-timer on a 6-hour shift gets a meal break and a rest break like anyone else. The map: break laws in the US.

Paid sick leave where a state or city requires it, accrued per hour worked (typically 1 hour per 30 or 40), for all employees.

FMLA, if the employer has 50 employees within 75 miles: 12 months of service and 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months, which is about 24 hours a week. Many part-timers qualify.

401(k) access. Since 2025, an employee with at least 500 hours in each of two consecutive years must be allowed to defer salary into the plan, whatever the plan calls them.

ACA coverage, at applicable large employers, once the average reaches 30 hours a week. This is the one place where "part-time" has a hard legal edge: the status is measured on hours, not on the job title.

Equal treatment under anti-discrimination law. Part-time status is not itself a protected class under federal law, but a part-time workforce that is disproportionately one sex or age group, treated worse, can raise those claims.

What they are not owed by federal law

Health insurance below 30 hours, paid vacation, holiday pay, a 401(k) match, dental or life cover, a minimum number of hours a week, or notice of schedule changes (except under city fair workweek laws such as Philadelphia's, Seattle's, New York City's and Chicago's, for large retail and food employers). Whatever the handbook promises, it must deliver.

The two lines to watch on the schedule

The 30-hour ACA average, if you are at or above 50 full-time equivalents. It is an average over the measurement period, so busy months count. A part-timer scheduled 26 hours who picks up shifts through the holidays can cross it. Decide whether you want them to, then schedule accordingly, rather than discovering it at the look-back.

Your handbook's full-time line, whatever the size. A "part-time" employee scheduled 38 hours every week for a year is doing a full-time job; a benefits claim based on that pattern is common and usually succeeds internally long before a lawyer is involved.

Both lines are managed the same way: hours actually worked, per person, per week, visible when the schedule is built, not after payroll runs. Squadra shows the running weekly total next to each name and records hours when people clock in, so the drift is visible in week two, not in December. Free up to 10 employees: see the pricing.

Choosing your own definition

If you are writing or rewriting the handbook:

1. Pick a number that matches how you staff. If most of the team works 32 hours, a 40-hour full-time line makes almost everyone part-time on paper, which affects morale more than budget.
2. Say how it is measured: scheduled hours or hours worked, over what period.
3. Say what changes at the line, benefit by benefit.
4. Align it with 30 if you are near 50 full-time equivalents, so the ACA measurement and the benefits measurement are one number, not two.

Related: how many hours is full time, overtime pay and the 40-hour rule, and the hours calculator for weekly totals from clock times.

*Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, "Part-time employment" and "Full-time employment"; IRS, "Identifying full-time employees"; Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPS definitions; U.S. Department of Labor, FMLA eligibility. Rules current as of September 2026. General information, not legal advice.*