How To Calculate Overtime Pay
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The federal baseline: the FLSA 40-hour rule
Overtime pay sounds simple — time-and-a-half after 40 hours — and it almost always turns out to be more complicated than that. Federal rules are one layer. State rules can stack on top. Shift differentials, double-time thresholds, salaried non-exempt classifications, and paid leave all introduce edge cases that can swing a paycheck by hundreds of dollars. This guide walks through the math that actually governs your OT check and how to verify it.
State rules that stack on top
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) — the federal wage-and-hour law — requires employers to pay non-exempt workers at least 1.5 × their regular rate for every hour over 40 in a workweek. That’s the floor. Your state may require more; it can’t require less.
Time-and-a-half vs double-time — the math
Same story with holidays. Working on a company holiday doesn’t automatically trigger overtime or holiday pay premiums under federal law. Any holiday 1.5× or 2× premium is contractual, not statutory.
Paid leave doesn’t count
If you’re salaried but non-exempt (paid a fixed weekly amount, but classified hourly for OT purposes), you’re still owed overtime. The math: weekly salary ÷ 40 = implied regular rate. Hours over 40 get 1.5× that implied rate.
The salaried non-exempt trap
On a $1,000/week salary: $1,000 ÷ 40 = $25/hour regular. A 50-hour week pays $1,000 + 10 × $37.50 = $1,375. Some employers use the “fluctuating workweek” method (FLSA § 778.114) which lowers the OT premium to 0.5× (since the salary already covers straight-time for all hours) — that’s legal but has to meet specific conditions including a written agreement.
How to verify your paycheck
Common error patterns: OT calculated on base rate when a shift differential should have been included (differentials count toward “regular rate” under FLSA), daily-plus-weekly double-counting in California, and salaried non-exempt workers getting zero OT because someone in payroll treated them as exempt. All three are worth catching.