What Is Overtime Pay?
Overtime is where paycheck math surprises people in both directions: an extra 8 hours at time-and-a-half adds 30% more pay than 8 regular hours would — but it's also where employers make errors, from mis-set thresholds to “averaging” two weeks of a biweekly period, which the rules don't allow.
Enter your rate, the week's hours, and your threshold and premium. You get the regular/overtime split, the overtime rate in dollars, gross total, and your effective average hourly rate for the week. Run each week of a pay period separately — that's how the law counts it too.
Turning the overtime bump into something permanent? Point it at the Savings Calculator.
How to Calculate Overtime Pay
A two-bucket split at the threshold:
Regular pay = min(hours, threshold) × rate Overtime pay = max(0, hours − threshold) × rate × multiplier Gross = regular + overtime
Worked example: $20/hour, 48 hours, 40-hour threshold at 1.5× — regular 40 × $20 = $800, overtime 8 × $30 = $240, gross $1,040. The effective average rate for the week is $21.67/hour.
Overtime Pay Chart: Time and a Half by Wage
Overtime rates and a 48-hour-week gross at common wages (40 h threshold, 1.5×):
| Regular rate | OT rate (1.5×) | Gross for 48 h | vs 40-h gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| $15.00 | $22.50 | $780.00 | +$180 |
| $18.00 | $27.00 | $936.00 | +$216 |
| $20.00 | $30.00 | $1,040.00 | +$240 |
| $25.00 | $37.50 | $1,300.00 | +$300 |
| $30.00 | $45.00 | $1,560.00 | +$360 |
Rule of thumb hiding in the last column: every overtime hour at 1.5× adds 1.5 regular hours' worth of pay — 8 OT hours pay like 12 regular ones.
Who Is Entitled to Overtime Pay?
US federal law (the FLSA) owes overtime to non-exempt employees — most hourly workers — at 1.5× past 40 hours per workweek. Exempt roles (many salaried professional, administrative, and executive positions meeting salary and duties tests) aren't owed it. States can only add: California's daily overtime past 8 hours and double time past 12 in a day are the famous example, and a handful of states have their own daily rules — which is why the calculator lets you change both threshold and multiplier.
Two mistakes worth catching on a pay stub: biweekly averaging (45 + 35 hours = 5 OT hours owed for week one; a flat 80 with no OT is wrong) and the “regular rate” for overtime purposes — nondiscretionary bonuses and shift differentials legally fold into the rate the 1.5× multiplies. If the numbers here and on your stub keep disagreeing, your state labor department is the free next step.