Time-and-a-Half: How to Calculate Overtime Pay by Hand
You worked 46 hours, your stub shows a bigger number than usual, and you want to know whether it is right — before payday, not after. Here is the short answer, using a $24-an-hour worker as the running example: the first 40 hours pay $960, the 6 overtime hours pay $36 an hour, or $216, and the week's gross pay is $1,176. The extra $72 over straight time is the "half" — 50 cents on every overtime dollar, times six hours. The rest of this guide works that week out hour by hour, so you can check any stub with a pocket calculator.
The week on a timesheet, hour by hour
Overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is weekly, not daily and not per paycheck. Hours are counted inside one workweek — seven consecutive 24-hour periods fixed by the employer — and only hours actually worked count toward the 40. That detail decides the whole calculation, because a long day on its own does not trigger overtime; crossing 40 for the week does.
Take a warehouse worker on $24 an hour whose week looks like this:
| Day | Hours worked | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 8 | 8 |
| Tuesday | 8 | 16 |
| Wednesday | 10 | 26 |
| Thursday | 10 | 36 |
| Friday | 10 | 46 |
Wednesday and Thursday were long days, but no overtime is owed for them yet: the running total is still under 40. Friday is where the line is crossed. The first 4 hours of Friday take the week to exactly 40 and are paid at the regular $24; the remaining 6 hours of Friday are the overtime hours. If you had split this week differently — say, 46 hours spread evenly — the overtime hours would still be 6, because only the weekly total matters under the federal rule. (A few states add daily overtime rules; California, for example, pays time and a half after 8 hours in a day. That is a separate rule, covered in a later guide.)
The three-step formula
Once you know the overtime hours, the arithmetic is three multiplications:
Step 1 — Overtime rate: $24 × 1.5 = $36.00 an hour. That is your regular rate plus half of it again: $24 + $12.
Step 2 — Overtime pay: 6 hours × $36.00 = $216.00.
Step 3 — Total gross pay: (40 × $24) + $216 = $960 + $216 = $1,176.00.
It helps to separate the overtime pay into its two parts. Those 6 hours would have paid $144 at straight time (6 × $24); the overtime premium — the "half" — is the extra $72 (6 × $12). So $1,176 is $1,104 of straight-time pay for 46 hours plus a $72 premium. If a stub shows overtime pay but no premium, something is off: the whole point of time and a half is that premium.
For a quick sense of the scale at other wages, here is what 6 overtime hours pay at common rates:
| Hourly rate | Time-and-a-half rate | 6 overtime hours | 46-hour week total |
|---|---|---|---|
| $15.00 | $22.50 | $135.00 | $735.00 |
| $18.00 | $27.00 | $162.00 | $882.00 |
| $20.00 | $30.00 | $180.00 | $980.00 |
| $24.00 | $36.00 | $216.00 | $1,176.00 |
| $30.00 | $45.00 | $270.00 | $1,470.00 |
Every row follows the same pattern: 40 hours at the regular rate, plus the overtime hours at 1.5 times it. Nothing else changes.
Check it against the Overtime Calculator
Hand math is worth verifying, because one mistyped digit is easy to miss. Open the Overtime Calculator, enter $24 as the hourly rate, 46 as the total hours, and 40 as the threshold, and it should return the same three numbers: $960 regular pay, $216 overtime pay, $1,176 total. If your stub disagrees with both your hand calculation and the calculator, take the discrepancy to payroll with the timesheet above — a week laid out day by day is much harder to dismiss than a single total. Remember that all of these figures are gross pay, before tax and deductions: overtime raises your gross, and withholding rises with it, so the net gain on a check is smaller than $216.
The salaried twist: same rule, one extra step
Salaried workers are not automatically exempt from overtime. If you are non-exempt — you do not meet the duties tests for an exemption — you are still owed time and a half, but your hourly rate has to be worked out first. Take a non-exempt salaried worker on $52,000 a year whose salary covers a 40-hour week: $52,000 ÷ 52 weeks = $1,000 a week, and $1,000 ÷ 40 hours = $25 an hour. The overtime rate is $25 × 1.5 = $37.50, so 6 overtime hours pay $225, and a 46-hour week totals $1,225 gross. The method is identical once the hourly rate is found; skipping that division step is the most common salaried mistake.
Common mistakes that cost real money
Multiplying all 46 hours by 1.5. This is the big one. 46 × $36 = $1,656, which overstates the week by $480. Only the hours over 40 get the multiplier; the first 40 stay at the regular rate.
Averaging two weeks together. A biweekly paycheck covering a 50-hour week and a 30-hour week still owes 10 overtime hours for the first week. Overtime is calculated workweek by workweek, never by averaging a pay period.
Counting paid time off as worked hours. A week with 32 hours worked plus 8 hours of paid holiday is 40 paid hours but only 32 worked hours — no federal overtime is owed on that week, unless a state rule or your contract says otherwise.
Using the base rate when a shift differential or bonus applies. The FLSA "regular rate" can include shift differentials and non-discretionary bonuses, which raises the overtime rate above base pay × 1.5. If either applies to you, check the bonus-and-overtime rules before accepting a stub at face value.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate time and a half by hand?
Multiply your hourly rate by 1.5 for the overtime rate, count the hours over 40 in the workweek, multiply those hours by the overtime rate, then add regular pay for the first 40 hours. At $24 an hour and 46 hours, that is $960 + $216 = $1,176.
What is time and a half for $20 an hour?
$30 an hour. Five overtime hours pay $150, on top of $800 for the first 40 hours, for a $950 gross week.
Do paid holidays and vacation hours count toward overtime?
No, under the federal rule only hours actually worked count. Paid time off is paid at the regular rate and does not push you over 40, unless a state rule, union contract or company policy adds a better rule.
Does time and a half apply to salaried workers?
Only if you are non-exempt. Divide your weekly salary by the hours it covers to get the regular hourly rate, then apply 1.5 times that rate to hours over 40 — as in the $52,000 example above, which gives $1,225 for a 46-hour week.
Run your own numbers: Overtime Calculator → and Paycheck Calculator → · Related reading: Overtime Pay: Your Rights Under Federal Law