How to calculate overtime pay (time and a half, with an example)

How to · Updated 2026-11-10

Split your week into regular and overtime hours, then pay the extra hours at 1.5 times your rate. A worked example shows why a daily limit can change the total.

Overtime pay is your regular pay for the normal hours plus a higher rate, usually 1.5 times your hourly pay (“time and a half”), for every hour past the limit your rules set. The overtime sorts your hours into regular and overtime for a chosen place and adds up the pay. If you clock in and out at odd times, the timesheet turns start and end times into hours first.

What you need

• Your hourly rate before tax. If you are on a weekly or yearly figure, divide it back to an hour first, or ask your payroll team what hourly rate they use.
• The hours you worked, either one total for the week or one number for each day. Daily numbers matter when your rule has a daily limit.
• Your rule: after how many hours overtime starts (per day, per week, or both), and what it pays. Rules differ by country, province and state, and many jobs are exempt, so check the official source and your contract.

Step by step

The arithmetic has two parts: find the overtime hours, then price them.

Overtime hours (weekly rule) = total hours − weekly limit (never below zero)

Overtime hours (daily rule) = the hours over the daily limit, added up day by day

Where a place uses both limits and takes whichever gives more, you work out both counts and keep the bigger one. Then:

Total pay = regular hours × rate + overtime hours × rate × multiplier

With the tool:

1. Open the overtime and type your Hourly pay. Pick your currency.
2. Under I know my hours, choose for the whole week and type one total, or choose day by day to fill in Monday to Sunday.
3. Pick your Place. The limits and rates fill in from that rule, and a short note and its source show below. You can type over any of them to match your contract, or pick My own rule.
4. Read the four boxes (regular hours, overtime hours, overtime pay, total pay) and the table, which shows each part at its own rate.

One thing to watch: if your rule has a daily limit and you only gave a weekly total, the tool warns you and uses the weekly limit only. Switch to day by day to get the full answer.

A worked example

Sam earns 22 an hour and works a short, heavy week: 10 hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then 6 hours on Thursday and Friday. That is 42 hours in all.

Under the Canada federal rule (overtime after 8 hours a day or 40 a week, at 1.5 times, whichever count is higher):

• Daily count: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are each 2 hours over 8, so 6 hours. Thursday and Friday are under.
• Weekly count: 42 − 40 = 2 hours.
• The higher count wins: 6 overtime hours, leaving 36 regular hours.
• Pay: 36 × 22 = 792, plus 6 × 22 × 1.5 = 6 × 33 = 198. Total: 990.

Under the US federal rule (40 a week, no daily limit), the same week gives 2 overtime hours: 40 × 22 = 880 plus 2 × 33 = 66, so 946.

Under the Ontario rule (44 a week), 42 hours is not over the limit, so all 42 are paid at 22: 924.

Same hours, same rate, three different paychecks. That is why picking the right rule matters more than the arithmetic itself.

To see what a typical month or year looks like with regular overtime, put the same numbers into the salary converter, which has its own optional overtime box.

Check your answer

• Total hours must match. Regular hours plus overtime hours should equal the hours you actually worked. In the federal example, 36 + 6 = 42.
• Overtime adds only the extra half. Paying every hour at the base rate would give 42 × 22 = 924. The federal total of 990 is 66 more, which is 6 overtime hours × 11 (half of 22). If your difference is not overtime hours × half your rate, something is off.
• Average rate sits just above your base. 990 ÷ 42 is about 23.57 an hour: a little over 22, well under 33. An average outside that band means a slip.

Questions people ask

Is time and a half the same everywhere? No. Some laws set 1.5 times, some set double, and some (the UK, for example) set no legal premium at all, leaving it to your contract. A few Canadian provinces base overtime on the minimum wage rather than your own rate. Check the official source for where you work.

Do paid holidays or sick days count towards the weekly limit? Often they do not, because the limit is usually about hours actually worked, but this varies. Your employment standards office or contract will say.

I am on a salary. Can I still get overtime? Possibly. Being salaried does not on its own make you exempt in many places; the job duties and pay level decide. Look up the exemption rules for your country or state, and ask your employer how your hourly rate is worked out. This is general information, not legal or payroll advice.