Overtime Pay Calculator — 1.5× OT + 2× Double-Time

The regular rate is not your hourly wage

Under the US Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime is 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. The mistake that causes most underpayment is assuming the regular rate is simply the base hourly wage. It is total straight-time earnings divided by hours worked, and it must include most non-discretionary compensation — production bonuses, shift differentials, commissions, and attendance or performance bonuses promised in advance.

Worked through: someone at $20/hour who also earned a guaranteed $200 weekly bonus across 50 hours has straight-time earnings of $20 × 50 = $1,000, plus the $200 bonus, giving $1,200 over 50 hours — a regular rate of $24, not $20. Their overtime hours are therefore worth 1.5 × $24 = $36 each, and the week totals $960 for the first 40 hours plus $360 for the 10 overtime hours, or $1,320.

Against a naive calculation at $20 the same week looks like $800 plus $300 of overtime, plus the $200 bonus — $1,300. The $20 gap comes entirely from failing to fold the bonus into the rate before applying the multiplier, and it compounds in any role where bonuses, commissions or shift premiums are a routine part of pay.

This calculator uses the simple multiplier method

Be clear about what the tool does: it multiplies the hourly rate you enter by 1.5 (or by a multiplier you set) for the overtime hours you specify, with a separate field for double-time hours. Inputs are the regular rate, regular hours, overtime hours, the multiplier, and optional double-time hours; the output is gross weekly pay broken into its components.

That is exactly right for a straightforward case — an hourly worker with no bonus structure, or when the overtime rate is already agreed. It does not derive the FLSA regular rate from a complex pay package. If your compensation includes non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials or commissions, the overtime actually owed may exceed what this shows, and the fix is to compute your regular rate first and enter that as the hourly figure.

Worth knowing: whether a bonus counts as discretionary is a legal question about how it was communicated and whether it was promised, not a label an employer can apply retrospectively.

The workweek is the unit

Overtime is computed per workweek, not per pay period. Two weeks of an 80-hour biweekly period cannot be averaged to avoid it — 50 hours one week and 30 the next produces 10 overtime hours, not zero. This is a common and entirely incorrect payroll practice.

Jurisdiction and exemption

Several US states, California and Colorado among them, add daily overtime once you pass a certain number of hours in a single day, and some trigger double time beyond a further threshold. This calculator works on the hours you enter rather than tracking those rules, which is why the multiplier is adjustable. Outside the US the frameworks differ entirely — India's Factories Act, for instance, generally requires twice the ordinary rate for overtime, and UK and EU working-time rules take a different approach again.

Only non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime, and being salaried does not by itself make someone exempt. Exemption turns on both a salary threshold, which is revised periodically rather than on a fixed schedule, and on the duties actually performed. Misclassification is common, and it usually favours the employer.

This is general information, not legal or payroll advice. Employment law varies by country, state and sometimes city, and classification carries real legal consequences. Check your exemption status, your regular rate and your local overtime rules with your labour authority or an employment lawyer before relying on any figure.

Overtime is part of what a role actually costs, and looking at it in isolation understates the total. The total compensation builder puts it alongside everything else.