A voltage regulator having an overload protection circuit and a method for protecting against an output voltage being less than a predetermined level. The voltage regulator has an overload protection circuit coupled between a feedback network and a regulation section. A power factor correction circuit is connected to the regulation section. An output voltage from the power factor correction circuit is fed back to the feedback network, which transmits a portion of the output voltage to the overload protection circuit. If the output voltage is less than the predetermined voltage level, a transconductance amplifier generates a current that sets an overload flag. Setting the overload flag initiates a delay timer. If the delay exceeds a predetermined amount of time, the overload protection circuit shuts down the voltage regulator.