Overtime Pay Calculator
Get FLSA overtime right — time-and-a-half on the true regular rate, plus the salary-exemption threshold check most owners get wrong.
Written by Dorothy Ibrahim, 10+ years in banking & finance
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How we calculate this
This calculator computes FLSA overtime the way the Department of Labor does: time-and-a-half on the regular rate — which must include nondiscretionary bonuses — for every hour over 40 in the workweek. It also checks a weekly salary against the $684/week exemption salary threshold, the piece of overtime law most small employers get wrong, and flags that the threshold itself is currently litigation-dependent.
The formulas
- Regular rate — hourly worker
- (hourly rate × hours worked + nondiscretionary bonus) ÷ total hours worked
- Regular rate — salaried non-exempt (standard method)
- (weekly salary + nondiscretionary bonus) ÷ 40The standard FLSA method (29 CFR 778.113) treats a fixed weekly salary as straight-time pay for a 40-hour week, so the salary is divided by 40 — not by the actual hours worked.
- Overtime pay
- 1.5 × regular rate × hours over 40For a salaried non-exempt worker this full 1.5× premium is paid on top of the salary, which already covers the first 40 hours.
- Total gross for the week
- hourly: (regular rate × hours up to 40) + overtime pay. Salaried non-exempt: weekly salary + nondiscretionary bonus + overtime pay.
- Exemption salary check
- weekly salary compared against $684/week ($35,568/year)Meeting the salary threshold is necessary but not sufficient — the duties test must also be passed.
Worked example
- Say an employee earns $22/hour and works 48 hours this week with no bonus.
- Regular rate = ($22 × 48) ÷ 48 = $22/hour, and hours over 40 = 8 overtime hours.
- Overtime pay = 1.5 × $22 × 8 = $264.
- Total gross = ($22 × 40) + $264 = $880 + $264 = $1,144 for the week.
- That works out to an effective $23.83/hour across all 48 hours — the premium the extra 8 hours actually earned.
- For a salaried non-exempt worker the method is the same but the rate comes from the salary ÷ 40: a $600/week salary is a $15/hour regular rate, so 5 overtime hours add 1.5 × $15 × 5 = $112.50 on top of the salary, for $712.50 that week.
Rates, benchmarks & sources
- The $684/week ($35,568/year) executive/administrative/professional salary threshold, and the litigation status: the 2024 DOL rule raising it toward $58,656 was vacated Nov 15 2024 (Texas v. DOL, E.D. Tex.), so the 2019 threshold applies for 2025–26 pending the 5th Circuit — 29 CFR 541; State of Texas v. DOL
- The 1.5× overtime multiplier over 40 hours per workweek and the requirement to fold nondiscretionary bonuses into the regular rate — FLSA (29 U.S.C. §207) as implemented in 29 CFR
Figures current as of 2026-07-02. See our methodology & editorial standards for how constants are versioned and verified.
What this tool doesn’t model
- The exemption salary threshold is litigation-dependent: the vacated 2024 rule would have raised it to $58,656, and the 2019 figure of $684/week applies only pending the 5th Circuit appeal — re-verify before relying on the verdict.
- The salary check covers the salary-level test only. Real exemption also requires the salary-basis test and, critically, the duties test (executive, administrative, or professional duties) — a title or a salary alone exempts no one.
- Federal FLSA math only. Some states are stricter: daily overtime (over 8 hours/day in California), double-time rules, and higher state salary thresholds are not modeled.
- Assumes a single workweek in isolation — no averaging across weeks (which the FLSA prohibits anyway) and no pay periods that straddle workweeks.
- Only one bonus field is modeled; commissions, shift differentials, and other regular-rate inclusions follow the same principle but must be added into that field manually.
- For salaried non-exempt workers this uses the standard method (salary ÷ 40, full 1.5× premium). An alternative "fluctuating workweek" method (29 CFR 778.114) divides the salary by all hours actually worked and pays only a 0.5× premium — a lower overtime cost — but it is permitted only when there is a clear mutual understanding that the fixed salary covers all hours worked, and several states disallow it; this tool does not apply it.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the exemption threshold come with a litigation warning?
Because the number is genuinely unsettled. The DOL issued a 2024 rule raising the salary threshold in steps toward $58,656/year, but a federal court vacated it on Nov 15 2024 in State of Texas v. DOL (E.D. Tex.), which put the 2019 threshold — $684/week, $35,568/year — back in force for 2025–26 while the appeal sits with the 5th Circuit. The calculator uses $684/week and flags it as provisional; recheck the status before making pay decisions that depend on it.
If I pay someone a salary, do I still owe them overtime?
Very possibly — this is the most common small-business wage claim. A salary below $684/week cannot be exempt at all, and a salary at or above it is exempt only if the job also passes the duties test in 29 CFR 541 (genuine executive, administrative, or professional duties). A salaried office manager doing mostly routine work is typically non-exempt and owed 1.5× for every hour over 40.
How is overtime figured for a salaried employee who is not exempt?
Under the standard FLSA method, a fixed weekly salary is treated as straight-time pay for a 40-hour week, so the regular rate is the salary ÷ 40, and each hour over 40 is paid a full 1.5× that rate on top of the salary. For example, a $600/week salary is a $15/hour regular rate; five overtime hours add 1.5 × $15 × 5 = $112.50, for $712.50 that week. There is an alternative "fluctuating workweek" method that divides the salary by all hours actually worked and pays only a 0.5× premium (which comes out lower), but it is allowed only where the employer and employee have a clear mutual understanding that the salary covers all hours worked, and some states bar it. This calculator uses the standard method.
Why does a bonus change the overtime rate?
The FLSA requires nondiscretionary bonuses — production, attendance, or promised bonuses — to be included in the regular rate before overtime is computed. For example, $20/hour for 50 hours plus a $100 bonus makes the regular rate ($1,000 + $100) ÷ 50 = $22/hour, so the 10 overtime hours cost 1.5 × $22 = $33 each, not $30. Paying overtime on the bare hourly rate systematically underpays it.
Does this calculator handle state overtime rules?
No — it applies the federal FLSA standard of 1.5× over 40 hours per workweek. Several states go further: California requires daily overtime past 8 hours and double-time past 12, some states set higher exemption salary thresholds, and a few have industry-specific rules. Where state law is more protective than the FLSA, the state rule governs, so treat this as the federal floor.
What counts as hours worked for the 40-hour threshold?
All time the employee is required to be on duty — including required training, travel between job sites during the day, and off-the-clock work you know about or should know about. Paid time off, holidays, and sick days are not hours worked under the FLSA, so a week with 8 hours of PTO and 36 worked hours has no federal overtime even though 44 hours were paid.
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