Time and a Half Calculator

Time and a half: the complete guide

What time and a half means

Time and a half is shorthand for a 1.5x overtime pay multiplier: for every qualifying overtime hour, a covered employee is paid one and a half times their regular hourly rate instead of their normal rate. The federal floor for this requirement comes from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 207), enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), and it applies to the great majority of hourly employees in the United States. The multiplier itself is a flat 1.5, but what counts as your “regular rate” and which hours qualify for it are where most of the real-world confusion lives, and where this guide spends most of its time.

When time and a half is owed

Under the FLSA, a covered non-exempt employee is owed overtime pay for every hour worked beyond 40 in a single, fixed workweek — it does not matter how the hours are distributed across the days in that week, only the weekly total. A workweek is any fixed, regularly recurring 168-hour period the employer defines; it does not have to match the calendar week or a pay period. Working 50 hours in three days and 0 hours the other four still triggers overtime on the same 10 hours as working those 50 hours evenly across five days, because the trigger is the 40-hour weekly total, not the daily schedule.

Some states go further than the federal floor. California is the clearest example: it requires overtime after 8 hours worked in a single workday, in addition to the standard 40-hour weekly rule, and it requires double time (2x, not 1.5x) after 12 hours in a day or after 8 hours on a seventh consecutive day worked in a workweek. This calculator handles the federal, weekly 1.5x conversion; for a full calculation that layers in a specific state's daily rules, use the Overtime Calculator.

The FLSA regular rate: why bonuses raise your true overtime rate

Your “regular rate” for overtime purposes is not always the same number as your stated hourly wage. The FLSA defines it as total straight-time compensation for the week divided by total straight-time hours worked, and that total compensation must include most bonuses, commissions, and shift differentials earned during the same week — not just the base hourly wage. Only genuinely discretionary bonuses (true surprises, not tied to hours, production, quality, or attendance, and not promised or expected in advance) can be left out of the regular-rate calculation. A production bonus, an attendance bonus, or a non-discretionary holiday bonus all count and must be folded in.

The FLSA Regular Rate section of the calculator above runs exactly this math: enter your base hourly rate, the bonus you earned that period, and your straight-time hours, and it shows both the corrected regular rate and how it compares to the naive rate-times-1.5 figure.

Salaried non-exempt employees

Being paid a salary does not, by itself, exempt an employee from overtime. The FLSA's white-collar exemptions (executive, administrative, and professional) require both a minimum salary level, currently $684 per week federally (about $35,568 a year), and specific job duties that meet a defined test; an employee who misses either the salary threshold or the duties test is “salaried non-exempt” and is still legally owed overtime. For a salaried non-exempt employee, the regular rate is the weekly salary divided by the number of hours it is intended to compensate (commonly 40), and time and a half is then calculated on that derived hourly figure the same way it is for a directly hourly employee.

Checking your own pay stub

The fastest way to verify an overtime paycheck is to separate it into two pieces: straight-time pay for the first 40 hours, and the overtime premium for anything beyond that. Multiply your regular rate by 40 for the straight-time piece, then multiply your time-and-a-half rate by the overtime hours for the second piece, and add the two together. If your paystub's gross wages line for that week does not match, the mismatch usually traces back to one of three things: the wrong regular rate (a bonus wasn't folded in), the wrong overtime hour count (unpaid off-the-clock time before a shift or after a close-out), or the 1.5x premium being applied to the wrong number of hours.

If you find a genuine shortfall, raise it with your employer or payroll department first in writing, since misapplied rates and payroll-system errors are common and are frequently corrected without any formal process. If it is not corrected, you can file a wage claim with your state labor agency or with the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, both of which can investigate and order back pay without requiring you to hire an attorney. Keep your own pay stubs and a log of hours worked; that record is often what makes or breaks a claim.

Common mistakes

Ignoring a non-discretionary bonus in the regular rate. As shown above, treating $20.00/hr x 1.5 as the final overtime rate when a $200.00 production bonus was also earned that week understates the true rate by $7.50/hr ($37.50 vs. the naive $30.00) — a $37.50 shortfall on just 5 overtime hours.

Applying the 1.5x rate to all hours, not just overtime hours. Paying $33.00/hr (time and a half on a $22.00 base) for a full 40-hour week instead of only the hours beyond 40 overpays by $440.00/week ($33.00 − $22.00 = $11.00 extra, × 40 hours) — the premium applies only to qualifying overtime hours, never to straight time.

Assuming a fixed salary always means no overtime. A salaried employee paid $800.00/week who does not meet the FLSA duties test for exemption is still owed time and a half on their derived $20.00/hr regular rate for hours beyond 40 — the salary label alone changes nothing.

Confusing time and a half with double time. Time and a half is 1.5x the regular rate; double time is 2x. Using a $44.00/hr double-time rate when only time and a half is owed on a $22.00 base overpays by $11.00 for every hour miscounted — the two premiums are not interchangeable, and most states that require double time (California being the main example) only do so in narrower circumstances than ordinary weekly overtime.

Reference: common hourly rates x 1.5

Use the calculator above for your exact rate, and remember: if you earned a bonus or commission in the same workweek, your true rate may be higher than this table shows, once it is corrected the way the FLSA Regular Rate section does.

State differences

The 1.5x multiplier itself does not vary by state, but the rules for when it applies do. States including California, Alaska, and Nevada add daily overtime triggers (typically after 8 hours in a single day) on top of the federal 40-hour weekly rule, and a smaller number of states have seventh-consecutive-day rules. State labor agencies — for example, California's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement or New York's Department of Labor — publish the specific thresholds and are the right place to file a wage complaint if you believe you were shorted. For a full breakdown by state, including daily thresholds and California's double-time rules, see the Overtime Calculator and the Double Time Calculator.

Frequently asked questions

What does "time and a half" actually mean?

Time and a half means one and a half times an employee's regular hourly rate, paid for hours that qualify for an overtime premium. If your regular rate is $20.00 an hour, time and a half is $30.00 an hour ($20.00 x 1.5), and that higher rate applies only to the qualifying overtime hours, not to your whole paycheck. The name describes the multiplier, not a separate wage system; it is layered on top of whatever your base hourly rate already is.

When is an employer required to pay time and a half?

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 207), most non-exempt employees are owed time and a half for every hour worked beyond 40 in a single workweek, regardless of how those hours are spread across days. Some states layer on stricter daily rules on top of that federal weekly rule, most notably California, which requires overtime after 8 hours in a single workday in addition to the 40-hour weekly threshold. This calculator handles the FLSA weekly conversion and regular-rate math; for state-specific daily rules, see the Overtime Calculator.

Is time and a half the same everywhere in the country?

The 1.5x multiplier itself is a federal floor set by the FLSA and applies nationwide to covered non-exempt employees, so the math in this calculator is universal. What differs by state is when the multiplier kicks in: some states add daily overtime thresholds, seventh-consecutive-day rules, or higher minimum thresholds for exemption, on top of the federal 40-hour weekly trigger. Check your state labor agency or the Overtime Calculator's state pages for local rules that layer on top of the federal baseline.

Why is my real overtime rate higher than my hourly rate x 1.5?

If you earned a non-discretionary bonus, commission, or shift differential during the same workweek, the FLSA requires that extra pay to be folded into your "regular rate" before the 1.5x multiplier is applied, which pushes your true overtime rate above a naive hourly-rate-times-1.5 calculation. This is one of the most commonly missed pieces of overtime math, and it is exactly what the FLSA Regular Rate section of this calculator computes for you. A discretionary bonus (a surprise, not tied to hours, production, or performance) is the narrow exception and does not have to be folded in.

Does a salaried employee ever get time and a half?

Yes, being paid a salary does not automatically make an employee exempt from overtime; the FLSA's white-collar exemptions require both a minimum salary level (currently $684 per week federally) and specific job duties, and an employee who fails either test is "salaried non-exempt" and still owed overtime. For a salaried non-exempt employee, the regular rate is the weekly salary divided by the hours it is intended to cover, and time and a half is calculated on that derived hourly rate the same way it would be for an hourly worker. Employers sometimes mistakenly treat any salaried role as automatically exempt, which is a common and costly misclassification.

What is the most common mistake people make with this math?

The most common mistake is stopping at hourly rate x 1.5 and ignoring bonuses, commissions, or shift differentials earned in the same workweek, which understates the true overtime rate whenever any of those exist. The second most common mistake is applying the 1.5x rate to all hours worked in a period instead of only the qualifying overtime hours, which overstates pay. Both errors are easy to avoid once you separate "what is my regular rate" from "how many hours does the premium apply to."

How do state overtime rules interact with time and a half?

States cannot pay employees less than the FLSA requires, but they can require more, and several do: California and a handful of other states require daily overtime after 8 hours worked in a single day, separate from and in addition to the 40-hour weekly rule. A handful of states also require overtime after a set number of consecutive days worked in a week, or set a stricter salary threshold for exemption than the federal one. This page computes the FLSA weekly 1.5x conversion; for a full weekly calculation that accounts for your specific state's rules, use the Overtime Calculator.

Is time and a half different from double time?

Yes, double time pays two full times the regular rate rather than one and a half times, and it is far less commonly required by law; the FLSA itself never mandates double time. California is the best-known example of a state that requires double time in specific circumstances, such as after 12 hours worked in a single day or after 8 hours on a seventh consecutive workday. If you need to convert a rate to its 2x equivalent rather than its 1.5x equivalent, use the Double Time Calculator instead.