Overtime Pay Calculator

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

In the United States, the federal law governing wages and hours is the FLSA. Unless you are specifically "exempt" (typically salaried managers, executives, or professionals making above a certain threshold), you are legally entitled to receive overtime pay.

The core FLSA rule mandates that covered non-exempt employees must receive overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 per workweek at a rate not absolutely less than "time and one-half" (1.5x) their regular rates of pay.

Example: If your base wage is exactly $20.00 an hour, every hour you work past 40 in a single week must be paid at precisely $30.00 an hour.

Daily Overtime vs. Weekly Overtime

By federal law, overtime is strictly calculated purely on a weekly basis (a fixed, recurring 168-hour period). Working 10 hours a day for 4 days is 40 hours, generating zero federal overtime.

However, state laws often supersede federal laws, offering greater worker protections. In California, daily overtime laws dictate that you must be paid 1.5x for any hours worked beyond 8 in a single day, and Double-Time (2.0x) for any hours worked beyond 12 in a single day.

Example in California: If you work a brutal 14-hour shift on Monday, but take the rest of the week off (only 14 total hours all week), you still receive: 8 hours at 1x, 4 hours at 1.5x, and 2 hours at 2.0x.

Double-Time (2.0x) and Holiday Pay

There is no federal requirement under the FLSA to pay double-time, nor is there a requirement to pay extra for working weekends, nights, or federally recognized holidays. Extra pay for these periods is strictly a matter of private agreement between the employer and the employee (often negotiated heavily by labor unions in Collective Bargaining Agreements).

If you are part of a union (e.g., SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, Teamsters), your contract may mandate "golden hours" (Double-Time) or even Triple-Time for extreme continuous shifts or working on Thanksgiving.