Overtime Calculator (Free, US Federal + State Notes)

Overtime is one of the most commonly misunderstood and most commonly underpaid line items on a hospitality paystub. This calculator gives you the exact overtime number for your hours and your state in one step. Below it, the law you need to know so you can actually verify your check, push back on a shorted paystub, and know when it is worth filing a complaint.

What this overtime calculator does

Enter your regular hourly rate and the number of hours you worked in a week. The calculator gives you your regular pay, your overtime pay at 1.5x for hours over 40 (and double-time where state law requires it), and your gross total before taxes. If you work in a daily-overtime state like California, you can also enter daily hours to capture the daily threshold, which often pays more than the weekly calculation.

It is not a tax calculator. It tells you your gross overtime pay, before federal, state, FICA, or local withholding. For an estimate of your take-home, check your paystub or use a paycheck calculator after this one.

How overtime is calculated under federal law

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal floor. For non-exempt employees (which includes almost all hourly hospitality workers), it requires 1.5 times your regular rate of pay for every hour worked over 40 in a single workweek. A workweek is any fixed, recurring 168-hour period your employer designates. It does not have to start on Monday, but it cannot float around to avoid overtime.

The math is straightforward in most cases:

• Regular pay = regular rate x first 40 hours.
• Overtime pay = 1.5 x regular rate x hours over 40.
• Total gross = regular pay + overtime pay.

Example: 50 hours at $18/hr. Regular pay = 40 x $18 = $720. Overtime = 10 x ($18 x 1.5) = 10 x $27 = $270. Gross = $990. The FLSA does not cap overtime hours and does not require the employer to pay overtime daily. Federal overtime is purely a weekly calculation.

State overtime laws that go beyond federal

Several states require overtime sooner than federal law does, and a few require double-time on long shifts. If you live in one of these states, your overtime starts before you hit 40 weekly hours, and the calculator should reflect that.

• California: 1.5x for hours over 8 in a workday, 1.5x for hours over 40 in a workweek, 1.5x for the first 8 hours on the 7th consecutive day worked, AND double-time (2x) for hours over 12 in a workday or over 8 on the 7th consecutive workday. California also has specific rules for alternative workweek schedules.
• Alaska: 1.5x for hours over 8 in a workday or over 40 in a workweek.
• Nevada: 1.5x for hours over 8 in a workday (if you earn less than 1.5x the state minimum wage) or over 40 in a week.
• Colorado: 1.5x for hours over 12 in a workday, over 40 in a workweek, or over 12 consecutive hours regardless of when the workday starts.
• Oregon: 1.5x over 40 weekly is standard, but the manufacturing sector and some specific industries have daily thresholds. Hospitality follows the weekly rule.
• Most other states default to the federal FLSA rule of 1.5x over 40 weekly hours, with no daily threshold.

Texas, Florida, and most southern states use the federal floor and nothing more. New York follows the federal rule but adds the spread-of-hours rule for the hospitality industry: if your workday spans more than 10 hours (clock-in to clock-out, including unpaid breaks), you are entitled to one extra hour at minimum wage.

Hospitality overtime traps to watch for on your paystub

Restaurants are one of the most overtime-violation-prone industries in the country. The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division consistently lists food service among the top sectors for back-wage recovery. The common patterns to look out for:

• Tip credit and the regular rate. If you are paid the tipped minimum wage, your overtime rate is still 1.5x the full minimum wage, not 1.5x your $2.13 cash wage. Federal example: tipped employee at $2.13 cash + tips. OT rate = $7.25 x 1.5 - $5.12 tip credit = $5.76. Many restaurants get this wrong and calculate 1.5x $2.13 = $3.20, which underpays the worker.
• Off-the-clock work. Pre-shift setup, post-shift sidework, mandatory meetings, side-work after clock-out, and time spent counting tip-out are all compensable. If you do them and they are not on your timecard, you are being shorted.
• Salaried but non-exempt. A salary does not automatically exempt you from overtime. To be exempt, you have to pass both a duties test (executive, administrative, professional, or outside sales) and a salary basis test. Most shift supervisors, lead bartenders, and assistant managers do not pass the duties test even if they have the title. They are owed overtime.
• Misclassified as a contractor. If you wear the uniform, work the schedule the employer sets, and use the employer's equipment, you are an employee, not a 1099 contractor, regardless of what the paperwork says. Employees get overtime. Contractors do not.
• Two locations, one employer. If you work at two restaurants owned by the same operator, your hours are combined for the weekly overtime calculation. The 40-hour clock is per employer, not per location.

How to read your paystub for overtime compliance

Pull your last four paystubs. For each one, write down your regular hours, your overtime hours, your regular hourly rate, and your overtime hourly rate. Multiply the rates by the hours. The sum should match your gross pay (before taxes and tip-out).

Common red flags: overtime hours always rounded to zero even when you remember working past 40. Regular rate showing your tipped minimum wage instead of the full minimum wage for OT calculation. A single line item labeled "hours" with no breakdown of regular vs OT. Pay that is identical week to week regardless of how many hours you actually worked. Any of these warrants a closer look.

What to do if your overtime is being shorted

Step one: keep your own records. Save your schedule, take photos of the printed schedule each week, and note your actual clock-in and clock-out times. Your records are admissible evidence if it ever comes to a wage claim, and the employer's records are presumed inaccurate if they conflict with credible employee records (Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery, 1946).

Step two: talk to your manager once, in writing, calmly. "My paystub shows 38 hours but I worked 46 last week. Can we look at the timecard together?" Sometimes this is a payroll mistake and gets fixed in the next check. Sometimes the conversation reveals it is policy, and you have your answer.

Step three: if it does not get resolved, file a complaint with the US Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division at dol.gov. The complaint is free, anonymous to the employer (the DOL does not tell the employer who filed), and the statute of limitations is two years for normal violations and three years for willful violations. Investigations take months but recover real money. You can also file with your state labor commissioner; California, New York, and Washington have aggressive state agencies that often move faster than the federal DOL.

Is overtime worth it after taxes?

Yes, almost always. There is a persistent myth that working overtime "pushes you into a higher tax bracket" and you take home less. That is not how the US tax system works. Brackets are marginal, meaning only the dollars above each bracket threshold are taxed at the higher rate. Your existing dollars are still taxed at the lower rate.

What can make a single check look smaller in percentage terms is the way employers' payroll systems calculate withholding on a one-time spike. The system often assumes your higher one-week earnings will continue all year and withholds at the higher rate. You get the over-withheld portion back at tax time. The actual tax owed on overtime hours is the same marginal rate as your regular hours, not a higher rate.

The "no tax on overtime" proposal that surfaces in political news cycles is not law as of 2026. Federal overtime is taxed as ordinary income. A handful of states (notably Alabama in 2024-2025) have experimented with state-level exemptions for overtime pay, but FICA, federal income tax, and most state taxes still apply.

Frequently asked questions about overtime

What is the best overtime calculator for payroll?

For a worker checking their own paycheck, this calculator and a clear understanding of FLSA + your state's daily threshold is enough. For an operator running payroll on more than a handful of employees, use full payroll software (Gusto, ADP, Toast Payroll, 7shifts) that handles tip credits, multiple pay rates, and state-specific rules automatically. A standalone OT calculator is for verification, not for running payroll at scale.

Is overtime worth it?

Almost always yes. Overtime is paid at 1.5x your regular rate, and the tax on it is at the same marginal rate as your other income. If your shift withholds at a higher percentage on a big overtime week, that over-withholding comes back as a tax refund. The exceptions are physical: chronic 60-hour weeks in a back-breaking role lead to burnout and injury. From a pure math standpoint, an extra 10 hours at 1.5x is real money.

How is overtime taxed?

Overtime is taxed as ordinary income at your marginal federal tax rate, plus FICA (Social Security 6.2% and Medicare 1.45%), plus state and local income tax where applicable. There is no special overtime tax rate. The confusion comes from employer withholding, which often takes more out of a one-time bigger check than the actual annual tax liability. The over-withheld portion comes back in your tax refund.

How much overtime tax will I get back?

If your withholding was inflated because of a big overtime check, the refund depends on your annual income and total withholding. For a typical hospitality worker who picks up 50-100 OT hours over the year, the over-withholding usually reconciles to a few hundred dollars at tax time. The exact number requires running your total annual income through the tax brackets, which a tax-prep tool will do for you. A payroll calculator can give you an estimate.

How do I calculate no-tax-on-overtime?

As of 2026, there is no federal no-tax-on-overtime law. Overtime is federally taxable as ordinary income. Alabama briefly exempted overtime from state income tax in 2024-2025 but the exemption was time-limited and is no longer in effect statewide. If a future federal proposal passes, the math would be to subtract your overtime gross from your taxable wages on your federal return. Until then, the answer is that overtime is taxed normally.

Do salaried hospitality workers get overtime?

Most of them should, even though many do not in practice. A salary alone does not exempt you from overtime under the FLSA. You have to pass both a salary test (currently $684/week as of 2026) and a duties test. For executive exemption you must primarily manage the business or a department, regularly direct two or more full-time employees, and have hire/fire authority. A shift supervisor who plates desserts and runs food for half the shift is not exempt. If you are "salaried" and working 55-hour weeks at a $42,000 salary in a hospitality role, you likely have an overtime claim.

Can I be paid in cash to avoid overtime?

No. The form of payment does not change the overtime obligation. Cash wages still count toward the weekly hours calculation, and the employer is still required to track hours and pay overtime. An employer paying cash to avoid taxes is committing wage theft and tax fraud at the same time. Workers paid this way have the same FLSA rights as everyone else and can file a complaint with the DOL.

How long do I have to file an overtime claim?

Two years from the date of the violation under federal FLSA for ordinary violations, three years for willful violations (when the employer knew or showed reckless disregard for the rules). State statutes vary: California allows three years (four for some claims), New York allows six years. File sooner rather than later because you can only recover back wages within the statute of limitations window, not the entire history of underpayment.

If your hours and pay add up but your accrued time off is the question mark, our PTO calculator walks through accrual rates and payout rules state by state.