How to Calculate Overtime Pay
How to calculate overtime: multiply overtime hours by your regular rate and 1.5. Under federal law, overtime is the hours over 40 in a workweek.
In this guide (6 steps)
Step 1 of 6: Find your workweek
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), federal overtime is counted by the workweek, which is a fixed, repeating period of 168 hours, or seven 24 hour days in a row. It does not have to start on Sunday or Monday. Your employer picks the start, and each workweek stands alone. Hours are not averaged across weeks. See the Department of Labor's Fact Sheet #23.
That means two weeks of 50 hours and 30 hours do not cancel out. The 50 hour week has 10 hours of overtime, and the 30 hour week has none. For a pay period of two weeks, the Biweekly Timesheet Calculator keeps the weeks apart for you.
Step 2 of 6: Add up your hours for the week
Count hours worked, with unpaid meal periods taken out. If you need help adding times, see How to Calculate Hours Worked or enter your shifts in the Timesheet Calculator.
Step 3 of 6: Find the overtime hours
Subtract 40 from the weekly total. Anything above 40 is overtime. 50 hours is 10 hours of overtime. 45 hours is 5. 38 hours is none.
Federal law has no daily overtime limit, and it does not require extra pay for weekend or holiday work as such. Some states and some employers set daily limits or premium days, and California does both. If your rules differ, see the California Overtime Calculator or use the Daily shifts tab of the Overtime Calculator. If daily rules apply to you, read Step 6 before you subtract 40, because daily overtime comes out before the weekly rule.
Step 4 of 6: Find your regular rate
The regular rate is what overtime is based on. It is often your hourly pay, but it is not always your base rate, because it includes all pay for the work except certain payments the law excludes, such as discretionary bonuses. Fact Sheet #23 explains how to figure it. If you get extra pay that counts toward it, use your regular rate in the formula, not just your base rate.
Step 5 of 6: Work out the overtime rate and the pay
Multiply the regular rate by 1.5 to get the overtime rate, which is time and a half. Then:
Total pay = (regular hours x regular rate) + (overtime hours x regular rate x 1.5)
At $20.00 an hour, the overtime rate is $30.00. To see the rate and the pay for any hours, put your rate into the time and a half calculator.
| Hours in the week | Regular pay | Overtime pay | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 40 x $20.00 = $800.00 | none | $800.00 |
| 45 | 40 x $20.00 = $800.00 | 5 x $30.00 = $150.00 | $950.00 |
| 50 | 40 x $20.00 = $800.00 | 10 x $30.00 = $300.00 | $1,100.00 |
For a week that is not a whole number of hours, work in minutes. 45 hours 30 minutes at $18.50 has 5 hours 30 minutes of overtime: 40 x $18.50 = $740.00 for regular time, plus 5.5 x $18.50 x 1.5 = $152.63 after rounding to the cent, for $892.63 in total.
Step 6 of 6: Check for daily or double time rules
If your state or employer counts overtime by the day, apply those rules before the weekly rule so no hour is paid twice. With overtime after 8 hours in a day and double time after 12, a 13 hour Monday is 8:00 regular, 4:00 at time and a half and 1:00 at double time. At $20.00 an hour that is $160.00 + $120.00 + $40.00 = $320.00 for the day.
Those daily rules are not federal law. They come from state law or from your employer. The Overtime Calculator lets you enter them, and the California page applies the California rules for you.
Questions people ask
What is the overtime formula?
Overtime pay = overtime hours x regular rate x 1.5. Overtime hours are the hours over 40 in a workweek under federal law. Add that to regular hours x regular rate for total pay.
Do I get overtime if my two weeks average 40 hours, like 50 and 30?
Yes, for the 50 hour week. Each workweek is counted on its own, so the first week has 10 overtime hours even though the two weeks together are 80.
Does an unpaid lunch count toward overtime?
No. A bona fide meal period where you are fully relieved of duty is not work time. Short paid rest breaks do count. See 29 CFR 785.19 and the DOL breaks page.
Do salaried employees get overtime?
It depends on whether the job is exempt, which turns on the duties and the pay, and a salary alone does not settle it. This guide does not decide exempt status. Check Fact Sheet #23 and your state labor department.
About this guide
The rules in this guide are the federal ones, and California is covered on its own page. The weekly overtime rule, the 168 hour workweek and the regular rate note come from the Department of Labor's Fact Sheet #23, and the meal period point from 29 CFR 785.19 and its breaks page. I checked each example in the Overtime Calculator before publishing: 45 hours at $20.00 gives $950.00, 50 hours gives $1,100.00, 45:30 at $18.50 gives $892.63, and the 13 hour Monday gives $320.00.
State rules differ and change. I link the California Department of Industrial Relations pages on the California page rather than summarizing other states here, and I have not checked state rules beyond that.
I last checked the sources linked on this page on October 8, 2026.
This calculator gives estimates for checking and planning pay. It is not legal, tax or payroll advice. Your employer's pay policy, your contract and the law where you work decide what you are owed. Overtime rules apply to non-exempt employees. This tool does not decide whether you are exempt.