Regular Rate of Pay Calculator (FLSA) 2026
Compute the true FLSA regular rate of pay by rolling nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions into your base hourly wage, then see exactly how much extra overtime premium your employer owes.
Base Hourly Rate
Total Hours Worked This Week
Nondiscretionary Bonus (weekly)
Production, attendance, safety, or performance bonuses promised in advance. Leave blank for truly discretionary year-end gifts.
Shift Differential Pay (weekly)
Total extra pay for night, weekend, or hazard shifts this week. Enter the weekly dollar total so you don't have to multiply per-hour differential by shift hours.
Commissions (weekly)
If a commission check covers multiple weeks, divide by the number of weeks covered before entering it here.
Overtime Multiplier
Federal FLSA requires 1.5x after 40 hours. California also requires 2.0x after 12 hours in a day. Overtime threshold is locked to the FLSA weekly standard of 40 hours.
Not legal advice. Based on 29 CFR § 778.109. Consult a wage-and-hour attorney or the DOL Wage & Hour Division for an official determination.
Track Bonuses & Overtime Automatically
Stop reverse-engineering your regular rate every pay period. The app folds bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions into your rate automatically.
What the Regular Rate Really Means
The regular rate of pay is the hourly figure the Department of Labor uses as the basis for overtime. It is not the wage printed on your offer letter. Under 29 CFR § 778.109, your regular rate equals your total weekly compensation (minus a short list of statutory exclusions) divided by every hour you actually worked that week. If the bonus or shift differential isn't in the numerator, your overtime isn't right.
What Counts Toward Your Regular Rate
Per 29 CFR § 778.108 and § 778.208, these payments must be included before you compute overtime:
- Hourly, piece-rate, and salary wages
- Nondiscretionary bonuses: production, attendance, safety, retention, hiring, and longevity
- Commissions (weekly, monthly, or quarterly, allocated back to the week earned)
- Shift differentials for night, weekend, or hazard shifts
- On-call pay and stand-by pay
- Board, lodging, and other facilities furnished at reasonable cost primarily for the employee's benefit
What's Excluded from the Regular Rate
Per 29 CFR § 778.200 and the 2020 DOL final rule (85 FR 778), these can stay out of the numerator:
- Truly discretionary bonuses (employer retained discretion over both fact and amount)
- Gifts and payments for special occasions
- PTO, holiday pay, sick pay, and vacation payouts
- Reimbursed expenses for travel, uniforms, and tools
- Employer contributions to health, retirement, and profit-sharing plans
- Stock options and ESPP benefits
- True premium payments for working over 8 hrs/day, over 40 hrs/week, or on weekends and holidays (the anti-pyramiding rule)
- Wellness program incentives, tuition assistance, and employee perks clarified in the 2020 final rule
How a Bonus Bumps Your Overtime: The 29 CFR § 778.110(b) Example
Maria earns $12/hr and works 46 hours one week. She also earns a $46 production bonus for hitting her weekly target.
The wrong way (what payroll systems sometimes do):
40 × $12 + 6 × ($12 × 1.5) + $46 = $634
The right way (per 29 CFR § 778.110):
- Straight-time pay = 46 × $12 + $46 = $598
- Regular rate = $598 ÷ 46 = $13.00/hr
- Overtime half-time premium = $13.00 × 0.5 × 6 = $39.00
- Total weekly comp = $598 + $39 = $637.00
The bonus costs Maria's employer an additional $3 in overtime premium that week. Multiply that by a crew of 50 and a year of weekly bonuses, and the gap between compliance and a class-action lawsuit is about $7,800.
Common Errors Employers Make
- Forgetting to include nondiscretionary bonuses in the regular rate before computing overtime.
- Mislabeling nondiscretionary bonuses as "discretionary" because they feel subjective, when 29 CFR § 778.211 requires the employer to retain discretion over both whether to pay and how much.
- Calculating overtime on the base rate instead of the regular rate when shift differentials are in play.
- Allocating a quarterly or annual bonus only to the pay period it's issued. The bonus must be spread over the entire earning period, and overtime must be recalculated retroactively.
- Excluding commissions because "they're paid monthly". Commissions are regular-rate wages no matter the payout frequency.
- Using 2,080 as the divisor for salaried nonexempt workers instead of the hours the salary actually covers (29 CFR § 778.113).
Regular Rate at $20/hr Base, 45 Hours Worked, Varying Weekly Bonus
A quick-reference table showing how a weekly nondiscretionary bonus compounds through your overtime premium. Assumes the FLSA 40-hour threshold and 1.5x multiplier.
| Weekly Bonus | Regular Rate | OT Premium Owed | Total Weekly Comp |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | $20.00/hr | $50.00 | $950.00 |
| $50 | $21.11/hr | $52.78 | $1,002.78 |
| $100 | $22.22/hr | $55.56 | $1,055.56 |
| $150 | $23.33/hr | $58.33 | $1,108.33 |
| $200 | $24.44/hr | $61.11 | $1,161.11 |
| $300 | $26.67/hr | $66.67 | $1,266.67 |
| $500 | $31.11/hr | $77.78 | $1,477.78 |
Even a modest $100 weekly bonus pushes an effective $20 hourly rate up by $2.22/hr, which adds $5.56 in premium on a five-hour overtime week. Multiplied across a full year, that's roughly $290 per worker in overtime that standard payroll software routinely misses.
Authoritative Sources
If you want to verify the math or cite the rule in a wage dispute, these are the authorities this calculator follows:
- DOL Fact Sheet #56A, Overview of the Regular Rate under the FLSA
- DOL Fact Sheet #56C, Bonuses under the FLSA
- 29 CFR § 778.109, The regular rate is an hourly rate
- 29 CFR § 778.110, Hourly rate employee (worked examples)
- 29 CFR § 778.211, Discretionary bonuses defined
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about regular rate of pay calculator (flsa) 2026
What is the regular rate of pay under the FLSA?
It's the hourly rate derived by dividing all non-excluded weekly compensation by total hours actually worked. Overtime is always calculated from this figure, not from your quoted base wage. See 29 CFR § 778.109.
What payments must be included in the regular rate?
Base wages, nondiscretionary bonuses (production, attendance, retention, safety), shift differentials, commissions, on-call pay, and most performance-tied prize payments. See 29 CFR § 778.108 for the full list.
What payments are excluded from the regular rate?
Truly discretionary bonuses, gifts, PTO and sick leave, reimbursed expenses, employer contributions to health and retirement plans, stock options, and premium payments already paid at 1.5x or higher (to avoid pyramiding). See 29 CFR § 778.200.
How do I calculate overtime when I get a nondiscretionary bonus?
Add the bonus to your weekly wages, divide by total hours worked for a new regular rate, then multiply that regular rate × 0.5 × overtime hours for the extra premium your employer owes on top of straight-time pay. Worked example from 29 CFR § 778.110(b): $12/hr × 46 hrs + $46 bonus = $598 ÷ 46 = $13/hr regular rate, and 6 OT hours × $6.50 premium = $39 extra owed.
Why is my overtime higher than 1.5x my posted hourly rate?
Because bonuses, commissions, and shift differentials push your regular rate above your quoted hourly wage. Overtime is 1.5x the regular rate, not 1.5x the base rate. Treating them as the same is the single biggest source of wage-and-hour underpayment claims.
What's the difference between discretionary and nondiscretionary bonuses?
A bonus is discretionary only if the employer keeps sole discretion over both whether to pay it and how much, and doesn't announce it in advance. Anything promised to incentivize behavior (production targets, attendance, safety milestones, retention) is nondiscretionary and must flow into the regular rate. See 29 CFR § 778.211.
How does the regular rate work for salaried nonexempt employees?
Divide the weekly salary by the hours the salary is intended to cover (often 40) to get the baseline regular rate. Then add any bonuses or commissions to the numerator before dividing by actual hours worked that week. See 29 CFR § 778.113.
Does the regular rate apply differently in California?
The formula is the same, but California layers on daily overtime: 1.5x after 8 hours in a day, 2.0x after 12 hours in a day, plus the federal weekly 40-hour threshold. For a day-by-day California estimate, combine this calculator's bonus math with a daily-OT tool.