Overtime Calculator: the complete guide
The federal overtime rule is simple to state and easy to miscalculate in practice: under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 207), a covered, non-exempt employee is owed 1.5x their regular rate of pay for every hour worked over 40 in a single workweek. There is no federal daily overtime rule and no federal double-time rule; those only exist under certain state laws, most notably California's.
This calculator applies the federal rule by default and links out to 16 state-specific pages where state law changes the math: California, Alaska, Colorado, and Nevada have their own daily-overtime engines, while the other 12 states here follow the federal formula but have their own minimum wage, exemption thresholds, and enforcement agency worth knowing.
How the 40-hour rule works
"Workweek" is a fixed, recurring period of 168 consecutive hours (seven 24-hour days) that an employer defines once and cannot change to dodge overtime; it does not have to run Monday through Sunday. Every hour actually worked in that workweek counts, including required training, mandatory meetings, and short breaks under 20 minutes, but excluding a genuine unpaid meal period. Hours are never averaged across two weeks: a person who works 30 hours one week and 50 the next is owed 10 hours of overtime for the second week, even though the two-week average is only 40.
An employee earning $20.00/hr works 48 hours in one workweek. The first 40 hours are straight time: 40 x $20.00 = $800.00. The remaining 8 hours are overtime at 1.5x: 8 x $30.00 = $240.00. Total pay for the week: $800.00 + $240.00 = $1,040.00.
Who is covered, and who is exempt
Most hourly employees are covered by the FLSA, either because their employer meets the $500,000 annual revenue "enterprise coverage" threshold or because the employee is individually engaged in interstate commerce (which courts read broadly enough to include most retail, food service, and office work). The main exemptions are the "white-collar" categories — bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees paid a fixed salary of at least $684 per week ($35,568/year) who also meet a duties test — plus outside salespeople and certain highly compensated computer professionals.
A job title alone never creates an exemption. An employee called a "manager" who spends most of their time on the same tasks as the hourly staff they supposedly supervise, and who is not paid the required salary, is very likely still owed overtime regardless of the title on their business card.
The regular rate: why overtime pay is not always 1.5x the base wage
The FLSA's 1.5x multiplier applies to the employee's "regular rate," not necessarily their stated hourly wage. If an employee earns a nondiscretionary bonus (one promised in advance for hitting a production, attendance, or safety goal), that bonus must be spread across the hours worked and folded into the regular rate before the 1.5x multiplier is applied. Skipping this step is one of the most common — and most expensive — payroll errors, because it silently underpays every overtime hour in the affected week.
An employee's base rate is $20.00/hr and they work 40 straight hours plus earn a $200.00 nondiscretionary bonus that week. Regular rate = (($20.00 x 40) + $200.00) / 40 = $25.00/hr. The correct overtime rate for that week is 1.5 x $25.00 = $37.50/hr, not the $30.00/hr you would get by applying 1.5x to the base rate alone. Use the Advanced Options panel above to run this calculation automatically.
Where state law changes the math
Sixteen states are covered on this site. Four of them — California, Alaska, Colorado, and Nevada — layer daily overtime rules (and, for California, a double-time rule) on top of the federal weekly rule, so the federal 40-hour formula alone will understate what's owed. The other twelve — Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington — use the same weekly 1.5x-over-40 formula as the federal rule, but each still has its own minimum wage, its own labor agency for filing a claim, and in some cases its own employer-size thresholds worth knowing before you assume your state is "just federal."
Pick your state from the selector above, or use one of the 16 state links on this site, to get the correct engine, the correct minimum wage figure, and the correct filing agency automatically, rather than assuming the plain federal formula covers every detail that matters for your specific state.
Common mistakes
Averaging hours across two pay periods. Paying a 30-hour week and a 50-hour week as if they average to 40 (no overtime) instead of paying 10 hours of overtime for the 50-hour week alone shortchanges the employee by 10 x $10.00 (half the base rate) for every $20.00/hr earned that second week.
Ignoring a nondiscretionary bonus when calculating the overtime rate. Applying 1.5x to a $20.00/hr base rate instead of the bonus-adjusted $25.00/hr regular rate pays $30.00/hr in overtime instead of the correct $37.50/hr, a $7.50/hr shortfall on every overtime hour.
Assuming a manager title means exempt. Classifying a $600/week "assistant manager" as exempt because of the title, when the federal salary threshold for exemption is $684/week, denies that employee overtime they are legally owed for every hour over 40.
Treating unpaid on-call time as excluded when it should count. Time an employee must spend at or very near the workplace, unable to use it freely, generally counts as hours worked even if it is labeled "on call"; excluding it from the 40-hour count can understate a week that actually crossed into overtime.
How each launch state's overtime engine compares
| State | Overtime engine |
|---|---|
| California | Daily (8/12hr) + weekly (40hr) + 7th-day + double time |
| Alaska | Daily (8hr) or weekly (40hr), greater of the two |
| Colorado | Greatest of: daily (12hr), consecutive (12hr), or weekly (40hr) |
| Nevada | Weekly (40hr) always; daily (8hr) only below 1.5x state minimum wage |
| All other 12 states | Weekly (40hr) only, following the federal FLSA formula |
How to file a claim
If you believe you're owed unpaid overtime, start by raising it in writing with your employer or payroll department; misapplied exemption status and bonus-adjustment errors are common and are often corrected without any formal process. If that doesn't resolve it, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), which investigates FLSA violations nationwide at no cost and without requiring an attorney, or with your state's own labor agency (linked on each state's page on this site) if your state has one. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (WHD).
Frequently asked questions
- What is the federal overtime rate?
- The federal overtime rate is 1.5x an employee's regular rate of pay for every hour worked over 40 in a single workweek, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 207). There is no federal daily overtime rule and no federal double-time rate; both of those only exist under specific state laws.
- Does federal law require double time for very long shifts?
- No. The FLSA has only one overtime tier: 1.5x for hours over 40 in a workweek, no matter how long a single shift or single day runs. Double time (2x pay) only exists where a state law creates it, and currently only California does so as a matter of routine daily overtime.
- Is overtime based on hours worked in a day or a week?
- Under federal law, overtime is based purely on the workweek total, not the length of any single day. An employee can legally work a 12-hour day under the FLSA with no overtime owed for that day alone, as long as the workweek total stays at or under 40 hours.
- Can my employer give me time off instead of paying overtime?
- For private-sector employees, no — the FLSA requires overtime to be paid in wages, not substituted with "comp time" (paid time off in lieu of overtime pay), except for certain public-sector government employees under a specific statutory exception. A private employer that offers comp time instead of overtime pay to a non-exempt hourly employee is generally violating the FLSA.
- Do part-time employees get overtime?
- Yes, if they are non-exempt and their hours in a single workweek exceed 40, regardless of whether their normal schedule is considered part-time or full-time. Overtime eligibility depends on hours actually worked in the workweek and exemption status, not on a job's part-time or full-time label.
- How do I know if I'm exempt from overtime?
- You are only exempt if you meet both a salary test (currently at least $684/week, paid on a true salary basis) and a duties test for one of the recognized exemption categories, most commonly executive, administrative, or professional work. Being paid a salary by itself, without meeting the duties test, does not create an exemption, and job titles are legally irrelevant to the analysis.
- Which states have daily overtime instead of just weekly?
- Among this calculator's 16 launch states, only California, Alaska, Colorado, and Nevada have a general daily-overtime rule; every other state, including large states like Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, follows the federal weekly-only 40-hour rule. Oregon has a narrow manufacturing-only daily rule not covered by this calculator.
- What should I do if I think my overtime pay is wrong?
- Recalculate your own regular rate (including any nondiscretionary bonuses) and multiply the overtime hours by 1.5x that figure, then compare it to your pay stub before raising the issue with your employer. If it isn't corrected, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division investigates FLSA complaints for free and can order back pay, and most states also have their own labor agency that accepts wage claims.