Time and a half beyond forty hours in a week is the federal floor. What employers get wrong, often enough that it is one of the most common wage claims there is, is what the half is calculated on. This overtime calculator uses the rule the law actually sets rather than the one most payroll systems assume.
The premium is not based on your base rate
The Fair Labor Standards Act sets overtime against your regular rate, which is total straight-time earnings divided by the hours you worked. That includes nondiscretionary bonuses: anything you were promised for hitting a target, showing up, or producing a quantity.
The difference is real money. Take someone on $22 an hour who works 45 hours and earns a $100 attendance bonus:
- Without the bonus counted, the overtime rate is $33.00 and the five hours pay $165.00.
- With it counted properly, the regular rate is $24.22, the overtime rate is $36.33, and those same five hours pay $170.56.
That is $5.56 for one week. Across a year of steady overtime and monthly bonuses it becomes a figure worth raising, and it is the sort of underpayment that is usually a payroll default rather than anything deliberate.
The test is whether you knew it was coming. A genuine surprise gift from your employer is discretionary and stays out of the regular rate. A bonus you were told about in advance, or one you earned by meeting a stated condition, belongs in it.
Overtime is counted by the week, not the day
Federal law looks at your workweek. Twelve hours on Monday and four on Friday is not overtime unless the week passes forty in total, which surprises people who work compressed schedules.
Several states are more generous, and where state law gives more, state law wins. California adds a daily threshold at eight hours and double time beyond twelve in a day, which is what the double time hours field above is for. Alaska, Nevada and Colorado have daily rules of their own.
Who is actually entitled to overtime
Being paid a salary does not remove your right to overtime, which is the single most common misunderstanding here. Exemption depends on how much you earn and what you actually do all day, not on how your pay is labeled.
- A job title alone never establishes exemption. “Manager” on a badge is not a test.
- Being paid a salary rather than an hourly rate does not by itself make you exempt.
- If your duties are mostly routine or manual, exemption is unlikely however you are paid.
If you think you have been underpaid, your first step is your own pay records rather than a confrontation. Work out what you are owed here, compare it against your pay stubs, and you will have a specific figure and a specific week to point at.
What this does not cover
This works out what you are owed, not what reaches your account. For that, the hourly paycheck calculator runs the same hours through federal, state and FICA withholding.
Overtime calculator FAQ
Work out your regular rate by dividing total straight-time earnings, including nondiscretionary bonuses, by hours worked. Multiply that by 1.5 for each hour beyond forty in the week. On $22 an hour across 45 hours with a $100 bonus, the regular rate is $24.22 and the overtime rate is $36.33.
Yes, if it was nondiscretionary. Anything promised in advance for hitting a target, attending reliably or producing a quantity must be included in the regular rate the overtime premium is based on. A genuine unexpected gift does not count.
Federally it is weekly, over forty hours. Several states add daily rules that override it: California requires time and a half beyond eight hours in a day and double time beyond twelve. Where state law is more generous, it applies.
Often yes. Being salaried does not make you exempt on its own. Exemption depends on your earnings level and your actual duties, not your job title or how your pay is described, so many salaried workers remain entitled to overtime.