Iowa Labor Laws

In the US, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets laws in place to manage the time spent by employees in the workplace, safeguarding their rights and guaranteeing fair pay for their efforts. 

Iowa’s time management laws are enforced by the Iowa Workforce Development. Employers are required to pay workers the federal minimum wage, however, minimum wage eligibility may vary for employees covered by the FLSA. 

Overtime pay in Iowa is also governed by the FLSA and employers are not required to provide breaks. If they choose to provide breaks, they must follow some general guidelines laid out by the FLSA. However, breastfeeding breaks are mandatory under federal law. 

Employers who violate these laws can face severe legal ramifications, including fines, back pay, and damages. If a worker believes that their wage rights have been violated, they can file a complaint with the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing for investigation and legal action.

Employers in Iowa are prohibited from discriminating against job applicants during the hiring process based on certain protected characteristics as per the Iowa Civil Rights Act. These include:

Furthermore, labor unions cannot refuse membership benefits to employees based on these protected characteristics. The Act also protects individuals experiencing pregnancy, childbirth, miscarriage, or abortion related conditions from unfair retaliation or discrimination

However, certain employers are exempt from the Act’s provisions. These include employers with fewer than four non-family employees, individuals employing domestic workers, those hiring caregivers for family members, and bona fide religious or educational institutions when employment qualifications are based on legitimate religious purposes.

Iowa follows the at-will employment policy, which means that an employer or employee can terminate an employment contract at any time, for any reason, with or without notice. However, it is illegal to terminate an employee:

• If they refuse to participate in illegal activities
• For whistleblowing
• In violation of public policy, including termination due to the employee practicing their rights under law
• In violation of the employee handbook contract terms

After an employee in Iowa is suspended or terminated, their final wages must be paid by their next regularly scheduled payday.  Employees earning on a commission basis must be paid the difference in wages within 30 days after the date of termination. 

Furthermore, employees earning vacation time on a pro-rata basis must be paid for the portion of vacation time earned up to the termination date. 

Some additional regulations that govern employment relations in Iowa also include: 

• Workplace Safety Laws: Employees in Iowa have the right to a healthy and hazard-free workplace under Iowa’s State Plan. Following the federal OSHA, Iowa’s State Plan establishes clear responsibilities for employers and employees to maintain and promote safe and healthy working conditions. These laws support research in occupational health and safety, including the identification of latent workplace diseases. Furthermore, these laws also establish training programs to enhance the skills of personnel dealing with workplace hazards.  The State Plan also includes two state-specific provisions for workplace sanitation and an employee’s right to know about risks associated with hazardous chemicals in the workplace. 
• Whistleblower Protection Laws: In Iowa, workers are protected from employer retaliation under the state OSHA plan. Employees have the right to report workplace hazards and unsafe conditions without fear of being fired, demoted, or mistreated. This protection also extends to those who request investigations into workplace conditions or testify in legal proceedings related to workplace safety.
• Background Check Laws: In Iowa, the cities of Des Moines and Waterloo have implemented a ban-the-box law. This law prohibits employers from asking about an employee’s criminal history in job applications, as well as conducting a background check before a conditional job offer has been made. Moreover, employers cannot make an employee provide any information related to convictions, arrests, or pending criminal charges during the application process. 
• Health Insurance Continuation Laws: In Iowa, employees and eligible dependents can continue their group health insurance benefits under the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) after loss of employment, reduction in work hours, death, divorce, or other qualifying life events. COBRA only applies to businesses with 20 or more employees and can require a worker to pay up to 102% of the cost of the plan as a premium. Small businesses with 19 or fewer employees can offer extended health insurance benefits after an employee loses their job under Iowa’s mini-COBRA.
• Recordkeeping Laws: Employers in Iowa are required to maintain employee payroll records for a minimum of three years. These records must include the employee’s name, address, wage payment type (hourly, salaried, per piece, commission, etc), daily work hours, total weekly work hours, additions and deductions from wages, date of wage payment, and the pay period covered by the payment. For exempt employees, employers are not required to keep a record of daily and weekly work hours as well as the employee’s type of wages. Employee timesheet records must be maintained for at least two years.

All hourly employees in Iowa are entitled to earn at least $7.25 per hour. 

Iowa’s minimum wage laws apply to employers earning at least $300,000 annually, public agencies, construction companies, hospitals, establishments caring for the sick, mentally ill, and elderly, schools for mentally or physically disabled individuals, preschools, elementary, and secondary schools.

Employers in Iowa can pay tipped employees a reduced minimum wage of $4.35 per hour, retaining a tip credit of $2.90 per hour. 

Under Iowa employment law, a tipped employee is a worker earning more than $30 in tips per month regularly. 

However, employers must ensure that a tipped worker’s hourly cash wage and earned tips equal the law-mandated minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. If not, the employer is required to make up the difference.

Employers in Iowa can pay a reduced minimum wage of $6.35 per hour to workers for the first 90 days of employment. Additionally, state law does not require small retail or service businesses that gross less than $300,000 annually to adhere to state minimum wage laws.

Certain occupations are exempt from state minimum wage laws due to federal law, including:

• Executive, administrative, learned, and creative professionals earning $684 per week
• Seasonal and recreational employees working at camps or amusement parks that operate for less than 7 months in a year or meet certain revenue criteria
• Fishermen
• Agricultural employees
• Workers exempt by order of the Secretary
• Small newspaper workers
• Small switchboard operators
• Seamen on non-American vessels
• Federal criminal investigators
• Certain computer professionals earning $27.63 per hour
• Border Patrol agents
• Professional baseball players earning a salary

Following Iowa labor laws, employees can be paid their wages on a monthly, semi-monthly, or biweekly basis, on regularly scheduled paydays that are set in advance by the employer. 

An employee’s payday must fall within 12 days — excluding Sundays and legal holidays —  after the end of the period in which those wages are earned. 

Employees earning wages on a commission basis can be paid in credit, provided that the employer pays the difference in the employee’s wages and credit at regular intervals not exceeding 12 months.

In Iowa, overtime is regulated by the FLSA. This means that any hours worked beyond 40 in a standard workweek is considered overtime. For these additional hours, non-exempt employees must be paid 1.5 times their regular hourly wage for each hour worked overtime

Minimum wage employees in Iowa are entitled to earn $10.88 for each hour worked overtime. Overtime pay cannot be paid for hours averaged for two or more workweeks.

Certain employees in Iowa are not entitled to overtime pay even if they work more than 40 hours in a workweek and are categorized as exempt employees under the FLSA. This includes white-collar employees employed in executive, administrative, and professional occupations who also earn more than $684 weekly or $35,568 annually. 

Additionally, the following occupations are also exempt from overtime pay as per the FLSA:

• Highly compensated employees earning at least $107,432 annually
• Computer employees earning $27.63 per hour
• Outside sales employees
• Aircraft, boat, truck, and trailer salespersons
• Farmworkers
• Drivers, their helpers, mechanics and loaders
• Salesmen, partsmen and mechanics employed by automobile dealerships
• Airline and railroad employees
• Taxicab and local delivery drivers
• Country elevator and livestock auction workers
• Fishing and fruit/vegetable transport workers
• Forestry and lumber workers (small firms)
• Firefighters and police (in very small departments)
• Houseparents at nonprofit schools
• Motion picture theater workers
• Domestic workers who live with employers
• Radio/TV station staff (small markets)
• Seamen (on American ships)
• Amusement/recreation workers in national parks
• Buyers of agricultural products
• Newspaper workers (small circulation)
• Sugar processing workers

In Iowa, there are no state regulations mandating employers to provide breaks for employees.

However, if an employer chooses to offer meal or rest breaks to workers, they must abide by break guidelines set by the FLSA. Rest breaks lasting between five to 20 minutes are compensated for, whereas lunch breaks that for 30 minutes or longer are unpaid if the employee is completely relieved from all job duties.  

Employers covered by the FLSA in Iowa are required to provide nursing employees with reasonably timed breaks to express milk at the workplace. These breaks must be provided for a year after a child’s birth.

Breastfeeding breaks are only unpaid if the nursing employee is completely relieved of all job duties for the duration of the break. Breastfeeding breaks can be taken during regular rest or lunch breaks. If those breaks are paid, time spent expressing milk must also be paid.

Employers must provide nursing employees with a private space that is not a toilet to express milk. This space must also be safe from public or coworker intrusion.

The following are the required leave types that Iowa employers must provide to their employees:

• Family Leave: Employees in Iowa can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid family and medical leave under the federal FMLA. To be eligible, an employee must have worked in an establishment with least 50 employees within 75 miles for 1,250 hours within a 12-month period. This leave can be used for reasons including the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child, or to care for a dependent’s or the employee’s own serious health condition. Employees can also take up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a military family member’s serious injuries under the FMLA’s Military Caregiver Leave policy.
• Jury Duty Leave: If an employee is required to perform jury duty, they can take jury duty leave in Iowa. Employers cannot threaten, retaliate against or discipline employees for receiving a notice to attend or serving as a juror. Jury leave in Iowa is not paid.
• Voting Leave: Employers in Iowa are required to provide two hours of paid voting leave to employees if they do not have sufficient time to vote while polls are open. To avail voting leave, an employee must submit an individual written request before the elections.
• Emergency Response Leave: State employees in Iowa who volunteer for emergency medical and firefighting services can take job-protected, paid leave for responding to an emergency in the state.
• Military Leave: Iowa law mandates that state employees serving in the National Guard, United States Armed Forces, Civil Air Patrol, and United States Army Nurse Corps receive 30 paid days of military leave per calendar year.

The following is a list of public holidays that will be observed in Iowa in 2025:

As per Iowa law, a minor is defined as an individual under the age of 18, who is unmarried and unemancipated.

The minimum age of employment in Iowa is 14, however, minors under 14 can be employed in certain occupations. 

Work Permits for Minors in Iowa

In Iowa, minors between the ages ten and 15 are required to obtain a Child Labor Form to secure employment. 

For minors aged 14 and 15, this form must be completed by the employer providing the job and signed by their parent or legal guardian. 

Minors younger than 14 but older than ten are required to complete this form with their school. Child Labor Forms can also be issued by a workforce development centre. 

Employers in Iowa are required to maintain a copy of this work permit. 

Work hour schedules for minors in Iowa are based on their age. Where state law does not place any work hour restrictions on minors aged 16 and older, minors aged 14 and 15 can only work as per the following regulations:

• When school is in session: Daily work hours cannot exceed six and weekly hours cannot exceed 28. They can work up to eight hours on weekends. Work hours can only be scheduled between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.
• During summer break: Daily work hours cannot exceed eight, with a weekly maximum of 40 hours. Work hours can be scheduled between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. 

Breaks for Minors in Iowa

Employers in Iowa are mandated by law to provide minors aged 14 and 15 a 30-minute break for five or more consecutive hours of work. This break may be paid or unpaid. 

All minors under 18 are prohibited from employment in the following occupations in Iowa:

State law places further restrictions on minors under 16, prohibiting them from employment in:

Federal child labor laws are more restrictive than Iowa child labor laws in certain scenarios. Employers must consult a legal professional to determine which set of regulations they are required to comply with.