Montana Labor Laws

In the US, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) the time spent by employees in the workplace, safeguarding their rights and guaranteeing fair pay for their efforts. These laws act as directives for employers, keeping them in check, and minimizing any forms of abuse or exploitation.

In Montana, employee time management laws are governed by the Montana Minimum Wage Law (1971), which sets the state minimum hourly pay, work hour regulations, and overtime wage laws for all employees. However, certain employees can be exempt from these provisions as per state law. 

Although the Act applies to all employees in the state, some employees in Montana may be covered by the FLSA and are entitled to earn the federal minimum wage only if they are exempt from receiving the state minimum wage. 

Employers in Montana are mandated by law to pay employees for all hours worked, including the time employee spends on duty at the workplace or any other location required by the employer, as well as any time spent working overtime.

Employers who contravene Montana time management laws face severe legal ramifications, including fines, back pay, and damages. If workers feel that their employer has violated their rights, they can file a wage claim with the Montana Department of Labor and Industry Employment Standards Division for investigation and legal action. 

Employers in Montana employing one or more workers are prohibited from engaging in discriminatory practices against job applicants and employees based on certain protected characteristics as per the Montana Human Rights Act. These characteristics include:

Discriminatory practices include refusing to hire or refer someone for employment, wrongful discharge, unequal compensation and benefits, denial of union membership, and retaliation against the employee for whistleblowing or refusing to participate in illegal activities. 

Montana is the only US state that does not adhere to the at-will employment policy. Under state law, employers or employees may terminate an employment contract at will within the first 12 months of an employment term. After this period, termination is only permitted for good cause. 

After employee termination or layoff in Montana, final wages are due immediately unless the employee’s contract specifies a different time frame. However, final payments cannot be delayed past 15 days after the day of termination or the employee’s next regular payday — whichever occurs first. 

If an employee in Montana quits their job, their final wages must be paid within 15 days or by their next regular payday — whichever occurs first. 

Some additional employment laws in Montana that are important for employers and employees include:

• Health Insurance Continuation Laws: Under the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), employees and their dependents can extend their health insurance coverage after certain qualifying life events for 18 to 36 months with the employee paying 102% of the original cost. Qualifying events for continued coverage include termination, reduced work hours, divorce, serious health issues, caring for a sick family member, and more. COBRA only applies to businesses with 20 or more employees in Montana. 
• Whistleblower Protection Laws: Under Montana’s Whistleblower Award and Protection Act, employers cannot discipline or take retaliatory action against employees who report state or federal law violations — either internally to a supervisor or externally to relevant law enforcement authorities. The Act also protects employees who testify, assist in investigations, or make disclosures protected under certain federal and state laws, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Employees must report any retaliatory action within three years of its occurrence to receive protection and assistance from relevant authorities. However, the Act does not protect employees who knowingly make false accusations against their employer.
• Drug and Alcohol Testing Laws: Montana’s employment laws allow employers to carry out drug and alcohol testing as a condition of employment, under reasonable suspicion, as a follow-up to previous positive test results, post-accident, and randomly. Employers can also use third-party testing programs, provided that they follow state law requirements.
• Employer Use of Social Media Laws: In Montana, it’s against the law for employers or their agents to ask for an employee’s or job applicant’s username or password to access their personal social media account. An employee or job applicant can also not be forced to access their social media in the employer’s absence, or provide any private information from their account. However, an employee can be required to provide access to their social media if they are suspected of misconduct, defamation, or for compliance with legal and company policies.
• Recordkeeping Laws: Employers in Montana are required to maintain certain employment records for each employee, which must include the employee’s name, social security number, home address, date of birth, sex, and occupation. Furthermore, an employer must maintain records related to an employee’s work schedule that should include the time and day the employee’s week starts, daily and weekly work hours, hourly wages, and duration of pay period, overtime earnings (if any), deductions and additions to wages, date of wage payment and the pay period covered by the payment.

The minimum wage in Montana is $10.55 per hour. All employees in Montana are entitled to receive this minimum wage, except those exempt specifically by state law. 

Employees exempt from receiving minimum wage under state law are still entitled to receive the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour if they are covered by the FLSA. 

Businesses that earn $110,000 or less in gross sales, which are also not covered by the FLSA, can pay employees $4.00 per hour. However, if such a business is transporting goods between states or is somehow covered by the FLSA, then the employer must pay employees the federal minimum wage. 

Montana’s minimum wage is adjusted based on the Consumer Price Index annually by September 30th. Updates to minimum wage in the state take effect from January 1st. 

Tipped employees in Montana are entitled to earn the state minimum wage of $10.55 or $4.00 — depending on their eligibility. Tip credit is not allowed. 

Tipped workers in the state are also entitled to service charges i.e. any charges that are imposed on the customer instead of tips. 

In Montana, employers can require workers to pool their tips. While there is no minimum or maximum contribution, employees cannot be required to give more than the amount they earn in tips. For this purpose, employers must maintain accurate records of tips earned by the employees and evidence of how tips have been distributed. 

Employers, exempt salaried supervisors, and managers are not included in the tip pool. However, they can keep any tips if they receive them directly. 

Under Montana employment law, certain groups of employees are not entitled to receive the state minimum wage. Some occupations exempt from minimum wage in the state include: 

• Students in accredited distributive education programs
• Workers performing casual household chores
• Immediate family members or dependents of the employer
• Domestic workers hired by an employer to care for dependent children
• Volunteers working in non-profit organizations, even if they are fully or partially paid
• Disabled individuals in training, evaluation, or non-competitive work programs
• Executive, administrative, and professional workers earning $684 weekly
• Skilled computer workers earning at least $27.63 per hour
• US Government employees
• Outside salespersons
• Apprentices or learner employees for 30 days
• Workers engaged in seasonal non-profit camps and conference centers

Learn more about minimum wage exemptions in Montana. 

In Montana, employers can set their own pay periods to pay employee wages. Pay periods can be weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, monthly, or annual. 

Employers are required by state law to pay an employee’s wages within ten business days after the end of the employee’s pay period.  

If an employee submits a timesheet after their employer’s deadline for payroll processing, and the employer does not pay the worker within ten days of that pay period’s end, the wages can be paid in the next pay period. 

All employees in Montana — except those exempt by law — are entitled to earn additional wages for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. These additional wages are calculated at 1.5 times the employee’s regular hourly rate. 

Student workers employed in seasonal amusement parks and recreational establishments — provided they receive boarding and lodging — are entitled to earn overtime pay at 1.5 times their regular wage for hours worked over 48 in a work week. 

Farm workers in Montana are not entitled to overtime pay at all. As per state law, they can be paid the state minimum wage per hour or a monthly wage of $635.

All employees exempt from minimum wage in Montana are also exempt from receiving overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week. This includes white-collar employees employed in administrative, executive, and professional positions earning more than $684 weekly ($35,568 annually). 

Additional exemptions from overtime pay in the state include: 

• An employee working as an outside buyer of poultry and dairy products in their raw form
• Aircraft, boat, and trailer salespersons employed by non-manufacturing dealerships
• Commission or contract-based salespersons involved in selling ads for radio and tv station employers 
• Taxicab drivers
• Agricultural workers maintaining non-commercial irrigation systems
• Employees working at small country elevators that have five or fewer employees
• Hospital or care workers with a 14-day, 80-hour work schedule
• Legislative branch employees
• Firefighters working under collective bargaining agreements
• Truck or bus drivers regulated by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation

There are no state laws in Montana that mandate employers to offer rest or meal breaks to employees. 

However, employers in Montana can still choose to provide their workers with breaks. Short rest breaks are paid for, whereas meal breaks lasting at least 30 minutes are unpaid, provided that the employee is completely relieved of all job duties for the duration of the meal break.

As per Montana break laws, employers in the state are required to provide unpaid breaks to nursing employees every day.  This includes workers employed in state and county governments, municipalities, schools districts and universities. 

Nursing employees are also entitled to proper storage facilities to store the pumped milk. Furthermore, employers are required to provide a private room where nursing employees can express milk in privacy.

The following is a list of leave types that employers in Montana are mandated to provide their workers under state and federal law:

• Family and Medical Leave: Eligible Montana employees can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) after a qualifying life event. This includes giving birth or caring for a newborn, adopting or fostering a child, having a health condition that prevents the employee from working, caring for a family member with a serious health issue, and providing support to a military family member on active military duty. To be eligible, employees must have been with the same employer for at least a year and have worked at least 1,250 hours in a 12-month period. Employees can also take up to 26 weeks of military caregiving leave to care for an injured or ill family member part of the military.
• Jury Duty Leave: In Montana, state employees can take paid jury duty leave to serve as a witness or juror in court. Employees on jury duty leave also receive jury fees from the state, which must be deducted from the employee’s pay. However, if the employee uses accrued annual leave to serve on a jury, they do not have to turn over their jury fees. Employers in Montana can request the court to excuse their employee from jury duty if the absence affects essential government operations.
• Military Leave: Montana’s  Military Service Employment Rights Act (MMSERA) provides public employees with up to 120 hours of paid military leave per year to serve in the Montana National Guard, the National Guard of another state, the reserve corps, or the U.S. military. To be eligible, an employee must have been employed for six months consecutively. This leave can be taken by full-time or part-time employees, regardless of whether they’re employed permanently, temporarily, seasonally, for a short term, or as a student intern.

The following public holidays will be observed in Montana for the year 2025:

Montana law defines a minor as any individual under the age of 18. However, individuals aged under 18 who have completed their high school education or have passed their general educational development exams are not considered minors as per state law.

Furthermore, any minor over the age of 16 enrolled in a federal or state apprenticeship program is not covered by Montana child labor laws. 

In Montana, minors aged 14 and 15 can only work:

• Between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. when school is in session
• Between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. from June 1 until Labor Day
• Three hours daily on school days, with a maximum of 18 hours weekly when school is in session
• Eight hours on non-school days, with a total of 40 hours when school is not in session

These minors can also work up to 23 hours a week in school-approved work experience programs while the program is in session, including during school hours.

All minors aged under 18 in Montana are not allowed to work in the following occupations: 

There are additional prohibited jobs for minors under the age of 16 in Montana.