US overtime calculator: the federal rule, week by week

How the federal overtime rule works

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires covered, non-exempt employees to be paid overtime for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The statutory text, 29 U.S.C. 207(a)(1), says the pay for those extra hours must be at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which the employee is employed. Regulation 29 CFR 778.107 repeats it: the rate that counts is the one at which the employee is actually employed, not a figure in a job ad.

Three consequences catch small employers out. First, the unit is a single workweek, so there is no netting a 30 hour week against a 50 hour week. In the DOL's own regulation text, 30 hours one week and 50 the next means 10 overtime hours in the second week. Second, the federal rule is about the week, not the day: a 12 hour Tuesday inside a 38 hour week creates no federal overtime. Third, weekends and holidays are not special: according to the DOL, the Act does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays or regular days of rest as such. A Sunday shift matters only because it adds hours to a week that may pass 40.

What counts as a workweek

The DOL describes a workweek as a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours, which is seven consecutive 24 hour periods. It does not have to be Monday to Sunday or a calendar week. It can start on any day and at any hour, as long as it stays the same from week to week. That is why the calculator asks for seven days of hours and nothing longer. If you pay every two weeks, you still calculate two separate workweeks and add the results, and the two weeks never offset each other.

The regular rate of pay

For a plain hourly employee the regular rate is the hourly wage. It stops being that simple once other pay enters the week. The DOL says the regular rate includes all remuneration for employment except certain payments excluded by the Act itself. Discretionary bonuses and gifts on special occasions are among the exclusions. Piece rate, commission and other earnings that are not hourly have to be converted: the overtime pay is computed on the average hourly rate derived from those earnings.

• Nondiscretionary bonus: promised in advance or tied to production or attendance. Under 29 CFR 778.209 the amount is added to the other earnings and the total is divided by total hours worked. A bonus therefore raises the rate that the overtime hours are multiplied by.
• Discretionary bonus or gift: excluded, so leave the field empty.
• Flat sum for Sunday work: not an overtime premium. The DOL's example is a flat $180 for employees who work overtime on Sunday: none of it counts as an overtime premium, even though their straight-time rate is $12 an hour.

One more rule matters for payroll order: overtime cannot be said to have been paid unless all the straight-time pay due for the non-overtime hours has been paid first (29 CFR 778.315). Underpaying the first 40 hours and topping up the rest does not work.

Worked examples you can check

Each example below comes from the DOL or the Code of Federal Regulations, except the total in example C, which is simple arithmetic from the regulation's rates. Load them into the calculator to see the same numbers.

A: 29 CFR 778.110. B: DOL Fact Sheet 23. C: 29 CFR 778.113, total worked out from its rates. D: 29 CFR 778.114.

Hourly employees

Pay every hour at the wage, then add one half of the regular rate for each hour over 40. At $12 and 46 hours, straight time for everything is $552, and the premium for 6 hours is 6 times $6, or $36. The total is $588, the same as paying 40 hours at $12 and 6 hours at $18. If a nondiscretionary bonus applies, add it to the straight-time pay to find the new regular rate, then pay the half-time premium on that rate.

Salaried employees who are not exempt

A salary does not switch off overtime. The regular rate is the salary divided by the number of hours it is intended to compensate (29 CFR 778.113). The regulation's example is $350 for 35 hours, a regular rate of $10. Hours from 36 to 40 are paid at $10 and every hour after 40 at $15. Working 45 hours therefore brings $350 plus $50 plus $75, or $475.

If the salary was meant to cover all the hours the person actually works, the rate is the salary divided by those hours. The DOL's example is $405 for a 45 hour week: the regular rate is $9.00 and the employee is owed an extra half-time premium of $22.50 for the 5 overtime hours, so $427.50. For a monthly salary, the calculator converts to a week as salary times 12, divided by 52.

Fluctuating workweek

Under 29 CFR 778.114, an employee can be paid a fixed salary for hours that vary from week to week when there is a clear mutual understanding about it. Overtime is then owed at one-half of the regular rate, because the salary already pays straight time for every hour. A $600 salary and 48 hours gives a regular rate of $12.50 and 8 overtime hours at $6.25, which is $50 extra. The regular rate changes every week, and the salary still has to be at least the minimum wage for the busiest week. The federal minimum is $7.25 an hour, effective July 24, 2009, and the calculator warns when the rate falls below it.

Exempt and non-exempt: the basics

This calculator is for non-exempt employees. The DOL is clear that job titles do not determine exempt status: an employee's specific job duties and salary must meet all the requirements of an exemption. Calling someone a manager, or paying a salary, is not enough.

Everything here is the federal rule. For the standard salary test, 29 CFR 541.600 currently reads not less than $684 per week, and for the highly compensated employee test, 29 CFR 541.601 reads total annual compensation of at least $107,432. The salary level is not fixed forever and a state may set a higher bar, so check the current salary level at dol.gov and with your state before you classify anyone.

State rules are often stricter

The FLSA sets a floor. California, the best known example, requires one and one-half times the regular rate for hours over 8 up to and including 12 in a workday, and double the regular rate for hours over 12 in a workday, according to the state labor department. The DOL state page also summarizes examples such as daily overtime for lower-wage workers in Nevada and a 48 hour weekly threshold in Minnesota, and tells readers to consult the relevant state labor office for official information.

When federal and state law both apply, the higher standard applies. Confirm the current rule for your state with your state labor office. This tool does not run any state formula. It shows a note when a day exceeds 8 hours, as a prompt to check.

Rounding and time records

Employers must keep time and pay records. Time clock rounding to the nearest 5 minutes, one-tenth of an hour or quarter of an hour is acceptable under 29 CFR 785.48 if it averages out so that employees are fully paid for time actually worked. Rounding that always favors the employer does not average out. The calculator keeps full precision internally and rounds money to cents only at the end.

Common mistakes

• Averaging two weeks. 45 and 35 is not 40 and 40. Each workweek stands alone.
• Using the base wage when a bonus applies. A nondiscretionary bonus changes the regular rate.
• Treating a flat weekend payment as overtime. It does not count as the premium.
• Assuming a salary means exempt. Duties and the salary level both decide.
• Changing the workweek start. The 168 hour period has to be fixed and recurring.
• Applying the federal rule in a stricter state. You owe whichever is higher.

The formula, so you can test it

H is the total hours in the workweek (the sum of the seven days). OT is the hours over 40. All money is rounded half up to cents at the very end.

Check it against the table above: case A is 12 x 46 = 552, plus 0.5 x 12 x 6 = 36, total 588. Case C with N = 35 and H = 45 is 350 + 10 x 5 + 1.5 x 10 x 5 = 475. When a nondiscretionary bonus is combined with a salary for set hours, the calculator spreads the bonus over all hours worked and pays the half-time premium on that part; a payroll professional should confirm unusual pay plans.

What HR FLARE can and cannot do for overtime

This page is a calculator, not payroll software. What HR FLARE can do for an overtime process is the step before: it holds the hours. Employees clock in and out from the browser, the Mac app or their phone, and timesheets go to a manager for approval, so the weekly total you type into this page comes from a record rather than memory. Because you must keep time and pay records anyway, that record is worth having.

What it cannot do is apply the FLSA to your payroll. Payroll in HR FLARE is records and payslips only: it does not calculate tax, file anything or pay people, and it does not replace advice on exemptions or state overtime. HR FLARE is free to get started for up to 5 employees. Paid plans are flat by headcount, from $29 a month for up to 10 employees, and the details are on the pricing page.

Sources

Sources checked on 5 October 2026. Wording on this page is a plain-English summary, so check the live page before you rely on a detail.

• U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Overtime pay
• DOL, Fact Sheet 23: Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA (workweek, no averaging, regular rate, salaried example, flat Sunday sum)
• DOL, Fact Sheet 17A: Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, and Computer Employees (job titles and duties)
• LII, 29 CFR 541.600 (weekly salary level) and 541.601 (highly compensated employees)
• DOL, Fair Labor Standards Act overview (minimum wage $7.25, record keeping)
• DOL, State minimum wage laws (state summaries, Nevada and Minnesota)
• Cornell Law School LII, 29 U.S.C. 207
• LII, 29 CFR 778.104 (no averaging), 778.107, 778.110 (hourly example), 778.113 (salary), 778.114 (fluctuating workweek), 778.209 (bonuses), 778.315 (straight time first), 785.48 (rounding)
• California Department of Industrial Relations, Overtime FAQ (daily overtime and double time)

Fact Sheet 23 is general information, not an official statement of position.