Overtime Calculator

How overtime is calculated

1. Split the week’s hours into regular hours (up to 40) and overtime hours (everything over 40). The calculator does this for you — enter the total.
2. Find the overtime rate: your hourly rate × 1.5. At $20 an hour that is $30.
3. Add the two: regular hours × rate + overtime hours × overtime rate.

Federal law sets the minimum: hours over 40 in a workweek at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate (29 U.S.C. 207). An employer can pay more, which is what the Overtime multiplier field is for. The pay shown is gross, before taxes and deductions; to see what regular overtime adds over a year, use the hourly to salary calculator. To get the week’s hours from start and end times, use the work hours calculator.

Time and a half and double time

Time and a half is a 50% higher rate for those hours, double time a 100% higher rate — the percentage calculator shows the same increase for any rate. Double time is not required by federal law. California requires it for long days (below); elsewhere it comes from an employer policy or a union contract.

California overtime: daily and seventh-day rules

California counts overtime by the day as well as the week (Labor Code 510):

• Over 8 hours in a workday — 1.5×, up to 12 hours.
• Over 12 hours in a workday — 2×.
• Over 40 hours in a workweek — 1.5×.
• Seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek — the first 8 hours at 1.5×, the rest at 2×.

Hours already paid as daily overtime are not counted again toward the 40-hour weekly limit, so no hour is paid twice. Choose California (daily) and enter each day’s hours.

Alaska, Nevada and Colorado also have daily overtime rules, with their own conditions; the calculator applies only the federal and California rules.

Overtime examples

• Retail, 44 hours at $17: 40 × $17 = $680; 4 × $25.50 = $102; $782.
• Warehouse, 46.5 hours at $18: 40 × $18 = $720; 6.5 × $27 = $175.50; $895.50.
• Nurse in California, three 12-hour shifts at $45: 24 regular × $45 = $1,080; 12 overtime × $67.50 = $810; $1,890 — under the federal rule the same 36 hours would be $1,620.

To see what an hourly rate adds up to over a year, an hourly-to-salary calculator is next on the list.

Who is not covered

The 40-hour rule protects non-exempt employees. Executive, administrative and professional employees who meet the federal salary and duties tests are exempt, as are some other groups such as certain farm and transportation workers. A salary on its own does not make someone exempt, and an employer cannot waive overtime by agreement. If you are unsure of your status, the U.S. Department of Labor’s overtime pages and your state labor department explain the tests.

The regular rate also includes most other pay for the work, such as non-discretionary bonuses and shift differentials, which can raise the overtime rate; this calculator uses one hourly rate.

Workweek, not pay period

A workweek is a fixed, recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods — that can start on any day your employer sets (29 CFR 778.105). Overtime is worked out for each workweek separately: two weeks of 30 and 50 hours are 10 overtime hours, not zero, even though the pay period adds up to 80. To check a single shift, use the hours calculator.