The overtime rate is 1.5 times your regular hourly pay, commonly called “time and a half.” Under federal law, employers must pay this rate for every hour you work beyond 40 in a single workweek. So if you normally earn $20 per hour, your overtime rate is $30 per hour for each hour past 40.
How the Federal Overtime Rule Works
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the baseline: non-exempt employees earn at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. A workweek is any fixed period of 168 consecutive hours (seven 24-hour days), and it doesn’t have to line up with a calendar week. Your employer picks the start day, and each workweek stands on its own. Hours can’t be averaged across two weeks, even if you’re paid biweekly.
That 1.5 multiplier is a legal floor, not a ceiling. Some employers pay double time for holidays or weekend shifts, but federal law doesn’t require it. The only federally mandated premium is time and a half after 40 hours in a workweek.
Some States Require Daily Overtime
A handful of states go further than federal law by triggering overtime based on hours worked in a single day, not just the weekly total. In these states, working more than eight hours in one day can qualify you for overtime pay even if your total for the week stays under 40. A few states also mandate double time, paying twice your regular rate, once you exceed 12 hours in a single workday or work a seventh consecutive day in a workweek.
If your state has a daily overtime rule, your employer must follow whichever law, state or federal, gives you the higher pay. Most states, however, follow the federal weekly standard only.
What Counts as Your “Regular Rate”
Your overtime rate is built on your regular rate of pay, and that number can be higher than your base hourly wage. The regular rate includes all compensation for work performed: base pay, shift differentials, non-discretionary bonuses, commissions, and piece-rate earnings. If your employer promised a $500 quarterly production bonus, that bonus gets folded into the regular rate calculation for overtime purposes.
Certain payments are excluded. Genuinely discretionary bonuses (where the employer decides at the last minute whether to pay them and how much), employer contributions to retirement or health plans, reimbursement for business expenses, paid time off like vacation or sick pay, and gifts for special occasions all stay out of the calculation. The key distinction is whether the payment is tied to your work output or hours. If it is, it gets included.
For salaried non-exempt workers, the regular rate is calculated by dividing the weekly salary by the number of hours the salary is intended to cover. If you earn $800 a week for a 40-hour schedule, your regular rate is $20 per hour and your overtime rate is $30.
Who Is Exempt From Overtime
Not every worker qualifies for overtime. The FLSA exempts employees who meet specific tests for executive, administrative, or professional roles. To qualify as exempt, an employee generally must be paid on a salary basis of at least $684 per week ($35,568 per year) and perform duties that involve managing others, exercising independent judgment on significant business matters, or applying advanced knowledge in a specialized field. Both the salary test and the duties test must be met; salary alone doesn’t make someone exempt.
Highly compensated employees earning at least $107,432 per year face a less rigorous duties test but still must perform at least one exempt duty. Outside sales employees and certain computer professionals also have their own exemption criteria.
If your employer classifies you as exempt but your job doesn’t actually meet the duties test, you may still be owed overtime regardless of your title or salary level.
The Healthcare 8-and-80 Exception
Hospitals and residential care facilities can use an alternative overtime system called “8 and 80.” Instead of tracking a 40-hour workweek, the employer uses a fixed 14-day work period. Overtime kicks in after 8 hours in any single workday or after 80 hours in the 14-day stretch, whichever comes first. The rate is still time and a half.
This system requires an agreement with affected employees before the work is performed. An employer can use the standard 40-hour system for some staff and the 8-and-80 system for others, but cannot apply both methods to the same individual employee. Any daily overtime premiums already paid get credited toward the 80-hour threshold so employees aren’t double-counted.
How to Calculate Your Overtime Pay
For a straightforward hourly job, the math is simple. Multiply your hourly rate by 1.5 to get your overtime rate, then multiply that by the number of overtime hours you worked. If you earn $25 per hour and work 46 hours in a week, you get 40 hours at $25 ($1,000) plus 6 hours at $37.50 ($225), totaling $1,225 for the week.
When bonuses or commissions are involved, the calculation takes an extra step. You first add the bonus to your base earnings for the period, divide by total hours worked to find the adjusted regular rate, then apply the 1.5 multiplier to the overtime hours. For example, if you earned $1,000 in base pay for 45 hours and received a $100 non-discretionary bonus, your regular rate is $1,100 divided by 45 hours, or $24.44. The overtime premium on those 5 extra hours is half of $24.44 (since you already received straight-time pay for all 45 hours), which adds $61.10 to your check.
Your pay stub should break out regular and overtime hours separately. If it doesn’t, or if the overtime rate looks lower than 1.5 times your regular rate, it’s worth comparing your total pay against these calculations to make sure the numbers add up.