Overtime Calculator

About the Overtime Calculator

An overtime calculator works out your total pay when you work beyond your standard hours, applying the higher overtime rates — time and a half, double time, or a blended rate — that federal and state law or your contract require. Overtime pay is one of the most commonly miscalculated parts of a paycheck, and the errors almost always favour the employer, which is why understanding it matters. In the United States, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires covered, non-exempt employees to be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Some states go further: California, for example, mandates daily overtime after 8 hours and double time after 12 hours in a single day, plus overtime on the seventh consecutive day. Our calculator lets you enter your base hourly rate, regular hours, and overtime hours at both 1.5× and 2× multipliers, then shows your gross pay broken down by category so you can verify your paycheck line by line and catch underpayment before it compounds over months.

How It Works

The calculation starts with your regular pay: base hourly rate multiplied by regular hours (up to the overtime threshold). Overtime pay is then your base rate multiplied by the overtime multiplier, multiplied by overtime hours. For time and a half, the multiplier is 1.5; for double time, it's 2.0. Gross pay is the sum of regular and all overtime categories. The subtle part is defining your "regular rate," which under FLSA is not always just your stated hourly wage — it must include most non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions, spread across the hours worked. This means an employee earning a production bonus may have a higher effective regular rate, and therefore a higher overtime rate, than their base wage suggests. Overtime is also calculated per workweek, not per pay period: two weeks of 35 and 45 hours is not "averaged" to 40 — the 45-hour week earns 5 hours of overtime regardless of the light week. Our calculator handles the standard cases and helps you see how daily versus weekly thresholds change the result in states with stricter rules.

Tips & Best Practices

• ✓FLSA overtime is per workweek, not per pay period. A 45-hour week followed by a 35-hour week still earns 5 hours of overtime — employers cannot legally average hours across two weeks to avoid it.
• ✓Your 'regular rate' for overtime may be higher than your base wage. Non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions must be included, which raises the rate your 1.5× multiplier applies to.
• ✓California requires daily overtime: 1.5× after 8 hours in a day, 2× after 12 hours, and overtime on the seventh consecutive workday. Several other states have their own daily rules — check your state, not just federal law.
• ✓Salaried does not automatically mean exempt. Whether you qualify for overtime depends on your duties and salary level under FLSA, not just how you're paid. Many salaried workers are legally owed overtime.
• ✓Comp time (time off instead of overtime pay) is generally illegal for private-sector employees under FLSA — you're entitled to cash overtime, not banked hours, unless you work in the public sector.
• ✓Keep your own record of hours worked. If your employer's timekeeping is wrong, your contemporaneous log is strong evidence in a wage claim, and the burden often shifts to the employer to disprove it.
• ✓Holiday and weekend pay premiums are usually a matter of company policy, not federal law — FLSA only mandates overtime for hours over 40, not extra pay for working a Saturday or a holiday.
• ✓If you suspect underpayment, calculate the full amount owed across every affected week before approaching HR. Systematic errors often go back months, and you may be entitled to back pay plus liquidated damages.

Who Uses This Calculator

Hourly employees use an overtime calculator to verify that their paycheck correctly applies time-and-a-half after 40 hours, one of the most common sources of wage theft. Workers in California and other daily-overtime states use it to confirm that daily 8-hour and 12-hour thresholds and seventh-consecutive-day rules are being honoured. Shift workers, nurses, warehouse staff, and manufacturing employees who regularly exceed 40 hours use it to forecast take-home pay and to catch systematic underpayment. Freelancers and contractors setting rates use overtime logic to price rush work and after-hours availability. Small business owners and payroll administrators use it to ensure FLSA compliance and avoid the back-pay liability and penalties that follow a Department of Labor audit. Employees negotiating a job offer use it to compare the true value of roles with different base rates and overtime expectations. Anyone reconciling a disputed paycheck uses it to build a clear, line-by-line record of what they are owed before raising the issue with HR or a labour board.