Overtime Pay Calculator (Time and a Half)

Time and a half, without the myths

Overtime pays 1.5× your regular rate past 40 hours in a workweek - $24/hr becomes $36, and an 8-hour OT Saturday grosses $288, of which $96 is the premium. The persistent myth is that OT is "taxed more": it isn't. Withholding on a fat check runs higher, but at filing time OT dollars are taxed exactly like regular dollars, and the difference reconciles in your refund.

Who gets overtime

Hourly (non-exempt) workers, always. Salaried workers are exempt only if they pass both the salary threshold and a duties test (genuine executive/professional/administrative work) - a "manager" title on a stocking job doesn't kill your OT rights, and misclassification claims recover years of back pay. Daily-OT states (California: over 8 hrs/day, 2× past 12) layer on top of the federal weekly rule.

For employers: OT as a cost signal

Chronic overtime above ~5% of hours usually means understaffing or schedule shape - and at 1.5× loaded rates it's expensive relief. Compare the OT premium you're paying monthly against the true cost of another hire; the crossover comes faster than most managers assume. Track the pattern in the labor cost calculator.

Two more myths, since we're already busting them

Holiday and weekend pay isn't automatic overtime. A lot of people assume working Thanksgiving or a Saturday earns 1.5x by law. It doesn't, federally at least. The FLSA only cares about hours over 40 in a workweek, not which day they fall on. If your employer pays a holiday premium, that's a company policy or a union contract choice, a genuinely nice one, but not something the law requires anywhere.

Comp time is mostly illegal outside government jobs. Public sector employees can legally trade overtime hours for paid time off later instead of cash, under specific FLSA rules for that sector. Almost all private employers cannot do this. If you work 45 hours in a week for a private company, the law says pay the overtime in that paycheck, not "take Friday off next month instead." An employer offering comp time in place of cash OT at a private business is very likely violating the FLSA, even if it sounds like a fair trade on paper.

Related tools

Compute a full week with lunches in the time card calculator; freelancers pricing "overtime" into contracts should start from the billable hours calculator instead - you don't get 1.5×, you get what you negotiate.

How overtime pay is calculated

Overtime edge cases the calculator flags but cannot resolve

The calculator computes gross overtime pay only. It does not account for weighted-average overtime, required when an employee works two or more jobs at different rates in the same workweek. Under 29 CFR § 778.115, the regular rate must be recalculated as total straight-time earnings divided by total hours worked. An employee earning $18/hr for 30 hours and $22/hr for 15 hours has a blended regular rate of $19.33, not $18, before the 0.5x premium applies to hours over 40.

Bonuses complicate the rate further. A non-discretionary bonus - production bonuses, attendance incentives, shift differentials - must be folded into the regular rate before overtime is calculated. A $200 weekly production bonus spread over 44 hours adds $4.55/hr to the regular rate and raises the overtime premium accordingly. Discretionary bonuses are excluded, but misclassifying a production bonus as discretionary is one of the most common FLSA audit triggers.

The fluctuating workweek method (29 CFR § 778.114) is a legal alternative for salaried non-exempt employees whose hours genuinely vary. The employer pays a fixed salary for all hours, then adds only 0.5x - not 1.5x - of the effective hourly rate for overtime hours. At a $700 weekly salary over 50 hours, the effective rate is $14.00/hr and the OT premium is $7.00/hr × 10 hours = $70, not $210. This method is not captured in a standard time-and-a-half calculator.

State daily overtime thresholds

Federal FLSA triggers overtime at 40 hours per workweek. Several states impose daily thresholds on top of that. California requires overtime after 8 hours in a single day and double-time after 12 hours in a day or after 8 hours on a seventh consecutive workday. Alaska triggers daily overtime after 8 hours. Nevada requires daily overtime after 8 hours only when the employee earns below 1.5× the state minimum wage ($13.25/hr as of 2024). An employee in California working five 9-hour days accumulates 5 daily overtime hours even though total weekly hours equal 45, producing a different gross than a simple weekly calculation.

Track daily splits with the time card calculator before feeding totals into this tool to catch state-level daily triggers.

What the 1.5× multiplier does not cover

Overtime pay is pre-tax gross. Federal income tax withholding on supplemental wages - which overtime qualifies as - uses a flat 22% withholding rate for amounts under $1 million when paid separately from regular wages (IRS Publication 15, Section 7). Social Security tax (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) apply as normal. An employee earning $300 in overtime gross takes home approximately $208 after federal withholding alone, before state income tax. The net figure requires a payroll tool, not an overtime calculator. For employer-side cost including FICA, FUTA, and workers' comp loading, the employee cost calculator covers the full burden rate.