Day Rate Overtime Calculator

How the Day Rate Overtime Calculator Works

The math needs three numbers: the day rate, the days worked, and the total hours actually worked. Day rate times days gives you the week's day-rate pay. That figure divided by total hours gives the FLSA regular rate. Half the regular rate, multiplied by the hours over the weekly threshold, is the premium the calculator adds on top.

Weeks that mix day rates are the exception. If one day paid a night rate and another paid a travel-day rate, skip the multiplication, add the payments up yourself, and type the weekly total into the override field. Section 778.112 totals all sums received at day rates before dividing, so the override gets you the right answer where the shortcut cannot.

Enter one workweek at a time. Overtime belongs to the individual workweek, so a hitch worker on a 14/14 or 28/28 rotation runs each week on its own instead of averaging a two-week or semi-monthly total. A few questions sit outside this tool: exemption status, state daily overtime rules, whether a per diem is excludable, and contract minimums.

The FLSA Day Rate Overtime Formula (29 CFR 778.112)

"If the employee is paid a flat sum for a day's work or for doing a particular job, without regard to the number of hours worked in the day or at the job, and if he receives no other form of compensation for services, his regular rate is determined by totaling all the sums received at such day rates or job rates in the workweek and dividing by the total hours actually worked. He is then entitled to extra half-time pay at this rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 in the workweek."

Worked example: $100 per day for 5 days is $500. Divide $500 by 50 hours worked and the regular rate is $10.00 per hour. Half of that is $5.00, times 10 overtime hours, is a $50.00 premium, for $550.00 total.

Hitch example: $1,000 per day for 7 days is $7,000. Across 84 hours the regular rate is $83.33 per hour, the half-time rate is $41.67, and 44 overtime hours add $1,833.33, for $8,833.33 total. A six-figure earner can still be owed a five-figure annual premium, which is exactly the Helix fact pattern.

The multiplier is 0.5, not 1.5. Feed a day rate into a generic hourly overtime calculator and it overstates the premium by roughly three times. The reason: a flat day rate pays for every hour worked that day, the hours past 40 included, so straight time on those hours is already in the check. The 50 percent premium is the only piece missing. Dividing by hours has a second consequence worth sitting with. On a fixed day rate, every additional hour worked pulls the regular rate down, which is why long weeks feel underpaid.

Helix Energy v. Hewitt: Day Rates Are Not a Salary

Michael Hewitt worked as a tool pusher on an offshore rig, 12-hour days on a 28-on, 28-off rotation, paid a daily rate between roughly $963 and $1,341 that produced over $200,000 a year. His employer treated him as an exempt executive and paid no overtime.

On February 22, 2023 the Supreme Court disagreed, 6 to 3, in an opinion by Justice Kagan. A daily rate is not a "predetermined amount" received for any week in which work is performed, so day-rate pay cannot satisfy the salary-basis test on its own, no matter how large the annual total.

One narrow path survives in the regulations. Under 29 CFR 541.604(b), a daily or hourly arrangement can still count as salaried if it includes a guaranteed weekly minimum that meets the salary level (currently $684 per week, after the 2024 rule was vacated and the pre-2024 regulations were restored in May 2026) and bears a reasonable relationship to usual weekly earnings, roughly 1.5 to 1 or closer. Without that guarantee, a day-rate worker is non-exempt and the half-time premium applies.

Day Rates by Industry: Oilfield, Construction, and Film Crews

Oilfield and hitch work produces the biggest premiums. Payroll cycles almost never line up with workweeks, and rig-up, travel, and standby days often carry their own rates, which is why the override field and the one-week-at-a-time rule both matter here. An 84-hour week produces 44 overtime hours. At a $1,000 day rate, that is more than $1,800 in premium for a single week.

Construction day rates run into prevailing-wage schedules and per diem allowances. Whether a per diem is excludable from the regular rate is a separate question under 29 CFR 778.217, and this calculator does not decide it. If a bonus or shift differential belongs in the rate, add it to the other includable pay field.

Film and TV crews quote rates like "$750/10," where the contract divides the rate by 11 pay-hours (8 straight plus 2 prepaid at time and a half) to reach an hourly figure of $68.18 rather than $75.00. Switch the method chip to contract allocation to see that number next to the FLSA result. The bargained allocation does not replace the statute: the employer owes whichever method produces more.

Day-rate disputes get won on hours records. The regular rate depends entirely on hours actually worked, so the number you divide by is the number worth documenting. Timeclock44 keeps a per-workweek log and exports PDF or CSV timesheets, so your hours are on paper before anyone starts arguing about the rate.