Overtime pay: what time-and-a-half actually adds up to
Overtime pay isn't a mystery bonus — it's two multiplications and an addition. Once you know the formula, you can check any paycheck that mixes regular and overtime hours by hand, on paper, in under a minute.
The formula
Gross pay = (rate × regular hours) + (rate × multiplier × overtime hours). The first term is straight pay for hours worked at the normal rate; the second is the overtime premium, which is the same rate boosted by a multiplier — 1.5× for time-and-a-half, 2× for double time.
A real example: a standard overtime week
A worker earns $19/hr, works 40 regular hours and 8 hours of overtime at the standard 1.5× multiplier.
- Regular pay:
19 × 40 = $760. - Overtime pay:
19 × 1.5 × 8 = $228. - Gross pay:
760 + 228 = $988.
Those 8 overtime hours don't pay $152 (8 × $19, what they'd be worth at the regular rate) — they pay $228, because each one carries the extra half-rate on top. The overtime premium alone, 228 − 152 = $76, is money that only exists because of the multiplier.
A real example: time-and-a-half vs. double time
Same worker, same 8 overtime hours — but this week they fall on a holiday that pays double time (2×) instead of the standard 1.5×.
- Overtime pay at 2×:
19 × 2 × 8 = $304. - Gross pay:
760 + 304 = $1,064.
That's 1,064 − 988 = $76 more than the same 8 hours at 1.5×. The multiplier alone — nothing about the hours worked — is what moved the number. Always check a pay stub's stated multiplier against what it should be for the type of overtime (weekly, holiday, or a state-specific daily-overtime rule); a pay stub that quietly uses 1.5× on hours that should be 2× is underpaying by exactly this kind of gap.
Why it compounds over a year
Take a $26/hr worker who regularly puts in 45 hours a week — 40 regular, 5 overtime at 1.5×.
- Regular pay:
26 × 40 = $1,040. - Overtime pay:
26 × 1.5 × 5 = $195. - Weekly gross:
1,040 + 195 = $1,235.
Multiplied out to 52 weeks, that's 1,235 × 52 = $64,220 a year, of which 195 × 52 = $10,140 is overtime premium alone — over $10,000 that a regular-hours-only estimate would miss entirely.
What this doesn't capture
This is gross pay, before taxes and any other withholding. It also assumes hourly, non-exempt status under the applicable overtime rules; salaried-exempt employees generally aren't owed overtime by federal law regardless of hours worked, though state rules vary and some states require daily (not just weekly) overtime past a set number of hours in one day. Check your local wage-and-hour rules for the multiplier and threshold that actually apply — this formula is the arithmetic once you know them, not the rule itself.
Run your own numbers
The free Overtime Pay calculator runs this instantly for your own rate, hours and multiplier — entirely on your device.