How to Calculate Time and a Half (Overtime Pay Guide)
Time and a half is your regular hourly rate multiplied by 1.5. Under federal law, most hourly workers earn it on every hour past 40 in a single workweek. So if you make $20 an hour, your overtime rate is $30, and the math is simply the overtime hours times that higher number, added on top of your normal 40-hour pay.
What exactly is time and a half?
Time and a half means each overtime hour pays 150% of your regular rate. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires it for covered non-exempt employees on every hour worked beyond 40 in a workweek. The "half" is the premium: your normal rate plus another 50% of it. It applies only to the overtime hours, never to your entire paycheck.
How do you calculate time and a half step by step?
Start from your regular hourly rate, turn it into an overtime rate, then apply it only to the hours over 40. The example below runs a worker paid $22 an hour who logged 46 hours in one week, which puts six hours into overtime territory.
- Find your regular rate — here it's $22.00 per hour.
- Multiply by 1.5 — $22.00 × 1.5 = $33.00, your time-and-a-half rate.
- Count hours over 40 — 46 worked minus 40 leaves 6 overtime hours.
- Pay the first 40 normally — 40 × $22.00 = $880.00.
- Pay the overtime at the higher rate — 6 × $33.00 = $198.00.
- Add them together — $880.00 + $198.00 = $1,078.00 gross for the week.
That's the entire method. If you'd rather skip the arithmetic and just see the weekly total, the overtime pay calculator takes your rate and hours and returns base pay, overtime premium, and gross in one shot.
What does time and a half look like at different pay rates?
The premium scales straight off your base wage, so the higher your regular rate, the bigger each overtime hour becomes. The table shows the time-and-a-half rate and the pay for five overtime hours across common wages. Read it as "for every hour past 40, this is what lands in your check."
| Regular rate | Time-and-a-half rate | Extra per OT hour | 5 OT hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| $15.00 | $22.50 | $7.50 | $112.50 |
| $18.00 | $27.00 | $9.00 | $135.00 |
| $20.00 | $30.00 | $10.00 | $150.00 |
| $25.00 | $37.50 | $12.50 | $187.50 |
| $30.00 | $45.00 | $15.00 | $225.00 |
| $40.00 | $60.00 | $20.00 | $300.00 |
How do you calculate overtime for a salaried employee?
Salaried does not mean overtime-exempt. If a salaried worker is non-exempt, you first convert the salary into an hourly regular rate, usually by dividing the weekly salary by the 40 hours it's meant to cover. From there it's the same time-and-a-half math as any hourly job.
If your pay is quoted as an annual salary, convert it to a weekly figure first, then to an hourly rate. The salary-to-hourly calculator handles that conversion, which gives you the regular rate the overtime premium builds on.
Who actually qualifies for time and a half?
Only non-exempt employees are owed FLSA overtime. Exempt workers, mainly bona fide executive, administrative, and professional roles, are not. To be exempt in 2026, an employee has to clear three tests: paid on a salary basis, paid at least the salary threshold, and performing exempt duties. Miss any one and overtime applies.
The duties test matters just as much as the dollar figure. A manager paid $60,000 who spends the day doing the same tasks as the crew may still be non-exempt if the role doesn't genuinely involve exempt duties. Title alone never settles it; the actual work does.
Do some states pay more than time and a half?
Yes. Federal law sets the floor at 1.5× past 40 weekly hours, but several states go further with daily overtime and double time. California is the clearest example, and its rules stack on top of the federal weekly standard rather than replacing it.
| California trigger (2026) | Pay rate |
|---|---|
| Over 8 hours in a workday | Time and a half (1.5×) |
| Over 12 hours in a workday | Double time (2×) |
| First 8 hours on the 7th straight workday | Time and a half (1.5×) |
| Beyond 8 hours on the 7th straight workday | Double time (2×) |
| Over 40 hours in the workweek | Time and a half (1.5×) |
Is overtime pay taxed differently?
Overtime is normal taxable wages, but a temporary federal deduction now softens the bite. For tax years 2025 through 2028, FLSA-covered workers can deduct the "half" premium portion of their time-and-a-half pay, the amount above their regular rate. It's capped and phases out at higher incomes.
Frequently asked questions
Is time and a half the same as double time?
No. Time and a half pays 1.5× your regular rate; double time pays 2×. Federal law only requires time and a half past 40 weekly hours. Double time is a state or employer rule, such as California's over-12-hours-in-a-day trigger.
Do the first 40 hours also get the 1.5 multiplier?
No. Only the hours past 40 in the workweek earn the premium. Your first 40 are paid at your regular rate. A worker who logs 45 hours gets 40 at normal pay and 5 at time and a half.
Does paid time off count toward the 40-hour overtime line?
Generally no. Under the FLSA, only actual hours worked count toward the 40-hour threshold. Holiday, vacation, and sick hours don't push you into overtime unless your employer chooses to count them. So 40 worked plus a paid holiday usually isn't overtime.
Can my employer average two weeks to avoid overtime?
No. Overtime is calculated one workweek at a time and cannot be averaged across two or more weeks. Working 30 hours one week and 50 the next still owes 10 hours of overtime for the second week, even though the two-week average is 40.
Does a bonus change my overtime rate?
It can. Non-discretionary bonuses, commissions, and shift differentials must be folded into your "regular rate" before the 1.5 multiplier is applied. That makes your true overtime rate slightly higher than your base wage alone would suggest.
Am I owed overtime if I'm on a salary?
Possibly. Being salaried doesn't automatically make you exempt. If your salary is below $684 a week, or your duties don't meet the exemption tests, you're non-exempt and owed time and a half past 40 hours. Convert the salary to an hourly rate to find your overtime pay.
How is overtime figured when I work two different pay rates?
Your regular rate becomes a weighted average of the rates you worked that week. Total the pay from all rates, divide by total hours to get the blended regular rate, then apply the 1.5 premium to the hours over 40. It's more involved than a single-rate week.
Once the rate and the 40-hour line are clear, overtime stops being a mystery: take your regular rate, add half of it, and apply that only to the hours past 40. To turn your own numbers into base pay, premium, and weekly gross without doing it by hand, run them through the overtime pay calculator and check the result against your next pay stub.