Does anyone know what the specific requirements for earning overtime in the state of South Dakota is? Some employers pay anything over eight hours in a day, some anything over forty hours in a work week. Another employer pays anything over eighty in a two week period. Which is correct? Where might I find this information to print off? My question arrises from a coworker putting in over sixty hours one week and thirty the next. The employer paid for ten hours overtime on the two week theory. On the forty hour work week theory, the employees should have received twenty hours overtime. Please help! Thanks.

South Dakota follows federal wage and hour regulations. Accordingly, a nonexempt employee must be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked of excess of 40 in a work week. Note that the work week must be defined by the employer as a fixed 7-day period and cannot fluctuate merely for purposes of avoiding paying overtime. The employer must use the work week as the basis for determining whether overtime is due; they cannot stretch the period over two weeks. Daily overtime (for working over 8 hours in a day) is not required, even though some SD employers may offer it.

Either your employer is ignorant of the law or they are intentionally ignoring it.
You can bring this to their attention and see if they will start doing it correctly (and fix prior errors) or you can file an unpaid overtime wage claim with the SD Dept. of Labor.

Here are the federal requirements:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs23.htm

You can also download the SD Wage Claim form here:
http://www.state.sd.us/dol/Forms/wageclaim.pdf