Weighted Average Overtime Calculator

When you need a weighted average overtime calculation

Four conditions have to line up: one employer, one workweek, two or more different straight-time hourly rates, and more than 40 total hours. Hit all four and your employer owes overtime on a blended regular rate, not on whichever rate happens to be convenient.

It shows up constantly in hourly work. A restaurant employee who serves four nights and preps two mornings. A warehouse worker paid one rate to drive and another to pick. A caregiver whose agency bills different rates for different clients. A nurse who picks up a differential shift. Payroll misses this rule a lot, and the employee is usually the first person to notice that the pay stub does not add up.

Pick the right tool for your situation. Different rates at the same employer means weighted average, which is this calculator. Same rate plus a nondiscretionary bonus, shift differential, or commission belongs in the Regular Rate of Pay Calculator, which folds non-hourly earnings into a single base rate instead of blending several hourly rates. Different employers means the hours do not combine for FLSA overtime at all, so use the Second Job Pay Calculator. One rate at one job with standard time and a half is the plain Overtime Pay Calculator.

The FLSA weighted average formula, step by step

Take the default example on this page: a restaurant worker at $20.00/hr for 30 hours of serving and $15.00/hr for 18 hours of kitchen prep, same restaurant, same workweek.

1. Total the straight-time earnings at every rate: (20 x 30) + (15 x 18) = $600 + $270 = $870.00.
2. Divide by total hours worked to get the regular rate: $870 divided by 48 hours = $18.1250/hr.
3. Multiply by 0.5 and by hours over 40: 0.5 x $18.1250 x 8 = $72.50.
4. Add the premium to straight-time earnings: $870.00 + $72.50 = $942.50 for the week.

The denominator in step 2 is total hours worked, all 48 of them, not 40. That is what 29 CFR 778.115 requires, and it is why this calculator has no separate overtime-hours input: the hours you enter per rate are the same hours that define the regular rate, so the overtime figure is derived rather than typed in a second time. DOL Fact Sheet #23 covers the underlying overtime rules.

Step 3 is where most people go wrong. The premium is half time, not time and a half, because the $870 already paid 1.0x for all 48 hours, including the 8 over 40. Only the extra 0.5x is outstanding. Multiply the blended rate by the full 1.5x instead and you get $217.50, which lands at $870 + $217.50 = $1,087.50: that is $145.00 more than the correct $942.50, because the straight-time portion of those 8 hours was paid twice.

The rate-in-effect alternative and when it is allowed

Section 7(g)(2) of the FLSA, spelled out in 29 CFR 778.415 through 778.419, allows a simpler method: price the overtime hours at the rate for the work actually done during those hours, rather than at a blended rate. Two conditions gate it. First, there has to be an agreement or understanding reached between employer and employee before the work is performed. Second, each rate has to be a bona fide rate, at or above the applicable minimum wage and actually paid for that kind of work during non-overtime hours. Without the prior agreement, the weighted average under 778.115 is what applies.

Run the restaurant example the other way. The kitchen row is the bottom row and has 18 hours, so it absorbs all 8 overtime hours: 0.5 x ($15.00 x 8) = $60.00, for a total of $930.00. The weighted average pays $72.50, so it comes out $12.50 ahead this week. Whether rate in effect pays more or less depends entirely on whether the overtime hours fell in the higher-paid or lower-paid job. If those 8 hours had landed in the $20 serving row instead, the rate-in-effect premium would be $80.00 and it would beat the blended figure.

This calculator attributes overtime hours from the bottom filled row upward, and the per-rate breakdown table shows exactly how many hours each row absorbed. Reordering your rows changes the attribution, so put the job where the overtime actually happened in the last filled row.

What else belongs in your regular rate

Blending multiple hourly rates is only part of the picture. Nondiscretionary bonuses, production and attendance bonuses, shift differentials, commissions, and on-call pay generally have to be folded into the regular rate too. Discretionary bonuses, gifts, and most expense reimbursements do not. For the bonus side of that math, the Regular Rate of Pay Calculator handles a single base rate plus extra earnings items.

Two limits on what this tool models. It covers one employer only: hours worked for two genuinely separate employers do not combine for FLSA overtime unless they are joint employers. And it applies the federal weekly rule only. California and a few other states also require daily overtime over 8 hours a day, plus double time in some cases and their own regular-rate rules, so check your state if you work long single days.

If your hours are split across rates or jobs, Timeclock44 logs them by job and rate so the weekly totals feeding this calculation are accurate to start with. One caveat: everything here is an estimate. The math is general information, not tax, payroll, or legal advice. Check it against your own pay stub, your employer's payroll policy, and the federal and state rules that apply where you work.