# Federal overtime calculation method

Source: https://payinview.com/methodology

See the federal hourly calculation method, exact arithmetic, rounding policy, supported cases, and limits.

Use the [overtime pay calculator](https://payinview.com/us/overtime-calculator) to apply this method to your workweek hours and hourly rates.

## One employer. One workweek at a time.

For this method, a workweek is the employer’s fixed, recurring 168-hour period. It can begin on any day and at any time. Your pay period may contain two weeks, but overtime is calculated separately for each.

- Add all worked hours for the week. Enter each block of time once.
- Multiply each block’s hours by its inclusive hourly rate. Include hourly shift differentials once.
- Divide unrounded straight-time earnings by all worked hours to get the weighted regular rate.
- For hours above 40, add half the unrounded regular rate. Straight time already includes the other 1×.
- Round weekly straight time and the additional premium separately to cents, then add them. Add the weeks for the period.

45 HOURS AT $24 **$1,080 + $60 = $1,140** 

45 × $24 straight time, plus 5 × $24 × 0.5 additional premium.

## Exact inputs, transparent rounding

Hourly rates accept cents. Decimal hours accept up to two decimal places. Hours/minutes accepts whole minutes. Both map exactly to fractions of an hour using integer arithmetic. The weighted rate stays unrounded until the premium is calculated. Amounts round half up at the weekly component boundary. Payroll systems that round each line separately can differ by cents.

When a time cannot be represented exactly in the other entry format, the format switch stops and keeps your inputs. For example, one minute is not exactly 0.02 hours.

## What we cannot determine

Coverage, exemption status, minimum-wage compliance, state/local rules, daily overtime, double time, bonuses, commissions, tips, salary or piecework, special arrangements, paid leave, reimbursements, taxes, and deductions are outside this model. Answer “Not sure” or “No” to a scope question when these inputs do not fit.

## Paycheck comparisons

Compare total modeled gross, only the additional premium, or full overtime earnings. Full overtime earnings can be compared only when effective hourly rates within each week are uniform. Mixed-rate totals do not identify the rate paid during the overtime hours. A match or difference is not a legal conclusion.

## Employer-policy what-if

This optional comparison changes only a hypothetical weekly threshold and total multiplier. It is not a contract interpreter, a legal minimum, or a credit calculation. The federal result and paycheck comparison stay separate.

[See sources and update history →](https://payinview.com/sources)