Overtime pay review starts with a simple question - how many hours are premium-paid in the workweek - but the answer depends on sources that a quick calculator cannot prove. FLSA coverage, exemption status, compensable time, regular-rate inclusions, state daily overtime, local ordinances, prevailing-wage rules, CBA language, payroll-system setup, and certified-payroll records all matter.
This guide treats overtime as a source-gap review. Use the linked screen to organize wage arithmetic and source pointers, then reconcile the result with current DOL, state, wage-determination, employer, union, safety, and qualified legal or payroll review before operational use.
Start With The Workweek And Regular Rate
The DOL FLSA source pointers describe overtime on a workweek basis for covered non-exempt employees. That means the review packet needs the actual employer workweek, all hours worked, and the regular-rate basis before any premium row can be trusted.
The regular rate is often broader than the entered hourly wage. Shift differentials, nondiscretionary bonuses, piece-rate earnings, multiple job rates, certain per diem, salary arrangements, and statutory exclusions all need payroll or legal review. The calculator can show the arithmetic, but it cannot decide which payments belong in the regular rate.
Overtime Pay Calculator
Calculate overtime pay with federal FLSA and state-specific daily OT rules for California, Alaska, Colorado, and Nevada. Handles anti-pyramiding, prevailing wage fringe, and common schedule presets.
Treat State Rows As Current Source Checks
California, Alaska, Colorado, and Nevada source pointers each raise different questions. California has daily, double-time, seventh-day, alternative-workweek, wage-order, and exception details. Alaska has daily overtime and employer-size or flexible-plan questions. Colorado includes a 12-consecutive-hour concept that day totals cannot prove. Nevada daily overtime depends on wage-threshold, 4x10, and exemption details.
Do not treat a state row as a universal rule. Verify the state where work is performed, current agency guidance, local ordinances, industry rules, wage orders, exemptions, and any CBA or employer policy that changes premium pay.
Avoid Counting The Same Hour Twice
A useful screening pattern is to mark daily premium-paid hours first, then add weekly overtime only when hours over 40 exceed the already premium-paid hours. That keeps the same hour from receiving two overtime premiums in the local arithmetic.
This is still not a universal legal answer. Some contracts, public-sector rules, holiday premiums, wage orders, or employer policies may define premium stacking differently. Keep the no-duplicate logic visible as an assumption and review it against the governing source.
Pull The Records Before The Calculator
Before relying on a wage screen, collect time records, workweek definition, job classifications, pay codes, shift differentials, bonuses, per diem policy, travel rules, CBA or handbook language, payroll-system setup, and any state-law or local-law source that applies to the work location.
For prevailing-wage work, add the contract clauses, wage determination, worker classification, apprentice registration and ratio records, fringe-benefit documentation, certified payroll records, and CWHSSA/FLSA overlap review. For long weeks, add fatigue, driving, safety-sensitive task, rest, and supervisor approval records.
Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage Calculator
Calculate Davis-Bacon prevailing wage pay with correct overtime rules where fringe stays flat. Compare cash-vs-benefits tax savings, annualize fringe credits, and compute apprentice wage steps.
Build A Review Packet
A practical review packet separates arithmetic from authority. Put the entered schedule, rate rows, premium rows, source pointers, warnings, and residual gaps on one page. Then attach the payroll records, state source, CBA or policy language, wage determination, and reviewer notes that decide whether the arithmetic belongs in payroll.
The linked screen is useful when it makes those unresolved questions visible. It is not useful if the output is copied into a check run without source review.