What federal information describes the time limit for starting an unpaid-overtime action?

For an unpaid-overtime claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act that accrued—the point the law treats as when a claim arose—on or after May 14, 1947, the statute says an action may be commenced within two years after accrual, or within three years if it arose from a violation the statute calls willful. An action, meaning a court case, generally starts when a complaint is filed; individual claimants in a group case, called a collective or class action, have additional commencement rules. This limited federal overview cannot decide whether the FLSA applies, when a claim accrued, whether a violation was willful, whether a private demand changes a deadline, or whether state or local law provides another rule. [1]