Enter one week of hours, or log your shifts as you work them, and get your real overtime pay. This calculator uses the actual FLSA regular rate method, so bonuses and shift premiums are folded in the way the law requires, and tipped overtime is built on the full minimum wage rather than the reduced cash wage.
Pick a job to prefill, or type your own numbers.
| Date | Clock in | Clock out | Break min | Tips | Hours |
|---|
Most overtime calculators multiply your hourly rate by 1.5 and stop there. That answer is right only when your rate is the single thing you get paid. The moment a bonus, a shift premium or a tip credit enters the picture, straight multiplication gives you the wrong number, and it almost always gives you a number that is too low.
This tool follows the method the Fair Labor Standards Act sets out. It adds up everything you earned for the week, divides by every hour you worked to get your regular rate, then applies the overtime multiplier to that rate. For tipped workers it goes a step further and builds overtime on the full minimum wage before subtracting the tip credit, which is the part employers get wrong most often.
The weekly tab is the fastest if you already know your total. The daily tab handles states that pay overtime by the day. The shift log is for anyone who would rather record shifts as they happen, which is how most servers, bartenders and hospitality staff actually track a week.
In the log you enter a clock in, a clock out, unpaid break minutes and the tips for that shift. Hours are worked out for you, overnight shifts are counted across midnight, and the whole week totals into the same calculation. The log saves in your own browser, so you can add Friday's shift on Friday and come back on Sunday to see the week. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Keeping your own record matters more than people expect. If a pay dispute ever comes up, a contemporaneous log of shifts and tips is the evidence that settles it, and your employer's timekeeping system is not something you control.
Overtime is not calculated on your posted hourly rate. It is calculated on your regular rate of pay, which is total straight time earnings divided by total hours worked. If those two numbers are the same, good. If you got a bonus, they are not.
Here is a case that shows the gap. You earn $20 an hour, you work 45 hours, and you get a $100 attendance bonus that was promised to you in advance.
| Step | Wrong way | Correct way |
|---|---|---|
| Straight time earnings | $900 | $900 plus $100 bonus, so $1,000 |
| Regular rate | $20.00 | $1,000 divided by 45, so $22.22 |
| Overtime rate | $30.00 | $33.33 |
| Pay for 5 overtime hours | $150.00 | $166.67 |
| Week total | $1,000.00 | $1,016.67 |
The bonus itself was paid either way. What went missing in the wrong column is $16.67 of overtime premium on the bonus. It looks small for one week. Across a year of weekly bonuses it is real money, and it is the single most common overtime error the Department of Labor finds in wage and hour investigations.
Federal law gives you one overtime rule and it is simpler than most people expect. Hours over 40 in a single workweek get at least 1.5 times your regular rate. That is the whole federal requirement.
Federal law does not require double time, does not require overtime for working more than eight hours in a day, and does not require extra pay for weekends or holidays. When you hear about those, they come from a state law or from a contract.
A handful of states pay overtime by the day as well as by the week. California is the strictest and is what the daily tab in this calculator models.
When both a daily and a weekly rule could apply to the same hour, you get paid once, at the higher rate. The calculator handles that by counting daily overtime first and then applying the weekly rule only to hours that were still being paid at straight time.
If your employer takes a tip credit, your paycheck shows a cash wage below minimum wage and your tips are expected to make up the difference. The federal floor is a $2.13 cash wage against a $7.25 minimum, so the tip credit is $5.12 an hour.
Now here is the part that gets fumbled constantly. Your overtime is calculated on the full minimum wage, not on the cash wage. The tip credit is subtracted afterwards, and it is subtracted at the same flat dollar amount, not multiplied.
| Step | Wrong method | Correct method |
|---|---|---|
| Starting rate | $2.13 cash wage | $7.25 full minimum wage |
| Times 1.5 | $3.20 | $10.88 |
| Subtract tip credit | nothing subtracted | minus $5.12 |
| Overtime cash rate | $3.20 | $5.76 |
That is $2.56 an hour missing. At six overtime hours a week for a year it comes to roughly $800 of unpaid wages, and it shows up on payroll systems that were set up carelessly rather than dishonestly. The calculator flags this comparison whenever you tick the tipped box and log overtime hours, so you can hold your stub up against the correct figure.
Seven states require the full state minimum wage in cash before tips. Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington all ban the tip credit outright. If you work in one of those, your cash wage should equal the full minimum and your tips sit entirely on top.
Tips have to actually cover the tip credit. If a slow week leaves your tips short, your employer has to make up the difference in cash so that your cash plus tips reaches at least the full minimum wage for every hour you worked. There is no averaging across weeks and no borrowing from a good week. The calculator runs this test and tells you when makeup pay is owed.
The 2025 tax law created two new federal deductions that run for tax years 2025 through 2028. They are deductions, not exemptions, and the names in the headlines oversell them.
Both phase out once modified adjusted gross income passes $150,000 single or $300,000 joint. Both are available whether or not you itemize. Neither one touches Social Security or Medicare tax, so 7.65 percent still comes off every dollar, and neither one touches state income tax unless your state passes its own version.
The estimate in the calculator annualises the premium and tip figures from the week you entered, applies the caps, and multiplies by the marginal rate you chose. Treat it as a rough size check rather than a filing number.
If the numbers do not line up, start with payroll and put it in writing. Most gaps are configuration mistakes that get corrected once someone looks. Where they do not, the federal statute of limitations for back wages is two years, and three years when the violation was wilful, so the clock is worth knowing about.
Forty hours at $18 is $720. The six overtime hours are paid at $27, which is $18 times 1.5, giving $162. Gross for the week is $882. If you also received a bonus or shift premium that week, your regular rate climbs above $18 and the overtime rate climbs with it, which is exactly what this overtime pay calculator works out for you.
Under federal law it is weekly. Only hours past 40 in a single workweek trigger overtime, so four ten hour days is 40 hours with no overtime owed federally. Several states add a daily rule on top. California pays 1.5x past 8 hours in a day and 2x past 12, and Alaska, Nevada and Colorado have daily rules of their own. Use the daily tab if you work in one of those states.
A nondiscretionary bonus does. If it was promised in advance for attendance, production, quality or safety, it has to be added to your earnings and spread across every hour you worked, which raises your regular rate and therefore your overtime rate. A genuinely discretionary bonus, where both the amount and the decision to pay were up to the employer at the time, stays out of the calculation.
Take the full minimum wage that applies to you, multiply by 1.5, then subtract the tip credit as a flat dollar figure. At the federal floor that is $7.25 times 1.5, which is $10.88, minus the $5.12 tip credit, leaving $5.76 an hour in cash. Multiplying the $2.13 cash wage by 1.5 to get $3.20 is the mistake, and it underpays you by $2.56 for every overtime hour.
The tip credit is the gap between the reduced cash wage your employer pays and the full minimum wage, which your tips are expected to fill. Federally the maximum is $5.12 an hour, being $7.25 minus $2.13. Many states cap it lower and seven states ban it entirely. Your employer can only claim the credit up to the tips you actually received, so a slow week means they owe you more cash.
Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington all require the full state minimum wage in cash before tips. In those states your tipped minimum wage and your regular minimum wage are the same number, and every tip you earn sits on top of it rather than counting toward it.
Your employer has to top you up in cash for that workweek so that cash plus tips reaches at least the full minimum wage for every hour you worked. The test runs week by week. A strong week cannot be averaged against a weak one, and the shortfall cannot be carried forward. This calculator runs the test and tells you when makeup pay is owed.
Not under federal law, which has no daily overtime and no double time requirement at all. In California you get 1.5x past 8 hours in a day and 2x past 12 hours in a day. Anywhere else double time comes from a union contract, a company policy or an employment agreement rather than from statute. The double time calculator field lets you enter it when your contract provides it.
No. Federal law treats a holiday or a Saturday as an ordinary workday. Extra pay for working them is a benefit your employer chose to offer. Overtime is owed only once your hours pass 40 in the week, or past a daily threshold in the few states that have one. Note that holiday pay for a day you did not work does not count toward the 40 hour total.
No. It is a deduction on your federal return covering the overtime premium only, meaning the extra half above your regular rate, capped at $12,500 single or $25,000 joint for tax years 2025 through 2028. Social Security and Medicare still come off every dollar, your state may still tax it, and the deduction phases out above $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income, or $300,000 joint.
Up to $25,000 of tip income can be deducted on your federal return for tax years 2025 through 2028, provided you work in an occupation that customarily receives tips. Your tips still need to be reported to your employer and still carry Social Security and Medicare tax. The same income phaseout applies, and mandatory service charges do not count because they are wages rather than tips.
No. The workweek stands alone, even when you are paid every two weeks. If you work 50 hours one week and 30 the next, you are owed 10 hours of overtime for the first week. The 80 hour total across the pay period is irrelevant. Averaging across weeks is a violation, and it is a common one on biweekly payroll systems.
A salary alone does not make you exempt. You also have to clear a minimum salary level and your actual job duties have to fit the executive, administrative, professional, outside sales or computer employee tests. Job titles carry no weight. Plenty of salaried assistant managers and coordinators are legally entitled to overtime, and misclassification is one of the largest categories of wage claims.
Yes. If your employer knew or should have known you were working, the hours are payable, even if nobody approved them. That covers answering messages after your shift, finishing a closing task off the clock and skipping an unpaid break. Your employer can discipline you for breaking the rule. They cannot refuse to pay for the time.
Two years under federal law, extending to three years where the violation was wilful. Some states allow longer, and a few allow up to six years. Recovery can include liquidated damages equal to the unpaid amount, which effectively doubles it. Because the clock runs continuously, the practical advice is to raise a discrepancy in writing as soon as you spot it.