Overtime law is one of those things that seems simple until you start paying attention. "Time and a half after 40 hours" — that's the headline rule in the US. But what counts as "hours worked"? When does daily overtime kick in? What about double-time, holiday pay, and bonuses? Here's a working guide.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees must be paid 1.5× their regular rate for any hours worked over 40 in a single workweek. A "workweek" is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It doesn't have to start Monday or align with the calendar week. Many employers use Sunday-Saturday, but a Wednesday-to-Tuesday workweek is equally valid as long as it's consistent.
Not just hourly wages. The FLSA defines regular rate as total compensation for the workweek divided by total hours worked, including most bonuses and shift differentials. Discretionary bonuses (truly discretionary holiday gifts, for example) can be excluded, but production bonuses, attendance bonuses, and shift differentials must be folded in. This is why payroll software often shows a "regular rate" that's higher than the base hourly rate.
Example: 47 hours worked at $20/hour.
Several states require daily overtime in addition to (not instead of) the weekly threshold:
| State | Daily threshold | Multiplier | Double-time? |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 8 hours/day | 1.5× | 2× after 12 hours/day |
| Alaska | 8 hours/day | 1.5× | No |
| Nevada | 8 hours/day* | 1.5× | No |
| Colorado | 12 hours/day | 1.5× | No |
| Puerto Rico | 8 hours/day | 1.5× | 2× after 8 on 7th day |
*Nevada daily OT only applies to employees earning under 1.5× minimum wage.
California is the gold standard for worker protections and the headache for employers. The rules:
India's Factories Act of 1948 requires 2× pay (double-time) for any hours over 9 in a day or 48 in a week. This is much stricter than the US — note the multiplier is 2×, not 1.5×. The new Labour Codes (Code on Wages, 2019, slowly being implemented across states) consolidate and update these rules.
Domestic workers, agricultural workers, and "supervisory" employees are typically excluded from overtime protection, though state laws vary considerably. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra each have their own Shop and Establishment Acts with slightly different rules.
The UK has no statutory overtime rate. The Working Time Regulations 1998 cap average working hours at 48 per week (averaged over 17 weeks), but anything beyond that is governed by the employment contract. Some industries (NHS, manufacturing) negotiate overtime rates collectively; others pay straight time for all hours.
Workers can opt out of the 48-hour limit in writing — but cannot be required to. The opt-out is genuinely voluntary under EU law (and post-Brexit UK law).
Illegal under FLSA. If an employee works 30 hours one week and 50 the next, you cannot average to 40 each. The 50-hour week generates 10 hours of overtime, period.
Only legal for public sector employees under FLSA. Private employers must pay cash overtime. Offering "we'll give you Friday off next week" instead of OT pay is wage theft.
Calling someone "salaried" doesn't exempt them. The 2024 DOL threshold ($43,888/year) plus the duties test must both be met. We have a separate post covering this in detail.
If a bonus is promised in advance based on performance, attendance, or production, it must be included in the regular rate, which raises the overtime rate. The DOL settles millions of dollars in violations each year over this single issue.
Our Overtime Calculator handles all the schemes above. Pick a preset (FLSA, California, India, Australia) or enter your own thresholds. The Hours Calculator lets you enter daily timesheets and applies the rules automatically — including double-time thresholds when the OT scheme is set to "daily" or "both."
Last updated May 2026. If something here is wrong or out of date, email contactus@calculatehours.net — we update fast.