What Is Time and a Half Pay?
Time and a half is the overtime rate the FLSA mandates for every hour past 40 in a workweek, and the math is exactly what it sounds like -- take your regular hourly rate, multiply by 1.5, and that is what your employer owes you for each overtime hour. A worker earning $20 per hour gets $30 for overtime, a $15 per hour worker gets $22.50, and so on up the pay scale. The part that trips people up is how quickly the extra half-rate compounds: ten overtime hours at $25 per hour produces $375 instead of $250, an additional $125 per week that most workers notice immediately on their paycheck.
Time and a Half for Common Hourly Rates
| Hourly Rate | Time & Half | 5 OT hrs/wk | 10 OT hrs/wk | Annual extra (10hrs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10.00 | $15.00 | $75 | $150 | $7,800 |
| $12.00 | $18.00 | $90 | $180 | $9,360 |
| $15.00 | $22.50 | $113 | $225 | $11,700 |
| $18.00 | $27.00 | $135 | $270 | $14,040 |
| $20.00 | $30.00 | $150 | $300 | $15,600 |
| $25.00 | $37.50 | $188 | $375 | $19,500 |
| $30.00 | $45.00 | $225 | $450 | $23,400 |
| $35.00 | $52.50 | $263 | $525 | $27,300 |
| $40.00 | $60.00 | $300 | $600 | $31,200 |
| $50.00 | $75.00 | $375 | $750 | $39,000 |
Annual extra = weekly overtime pay × 52 weeks. Actual annual overtime depends on consistent scheduling. Based on FLSA 1.5× rate for hours over 40 per workweek.
2026 Overtime Tax Deduction
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21) created a new federal tax deduction for qualified overtime compensation starting with tax year 2025, and the IRS published the full details on their Q&A page in mid-2025. The deduction covers only the premium portion of overtime -- the extra 0.5 times in a 1.5 times arrangement, not the full overtime rate -- and caps at $12,500 per return ($25,000 for joint filers). Workers earning above $150,000 in modified adjusted gross income ($300,000 joint) see the deduction phase out, and only FLSA-covered non-exempt employees qualify. Starting in 2026, employers must separately report the qualifying amount on Form W-2, which makes claiming the deduction considerably simpler than it was in the 2025 tax year when reporting was optional.
Holiday Pay and Time and a Half
We get this question constantly and the answer surprises most people -- federal law does not require time and a half for working on holidays. The FLSA mandates overtime pay only for hours exceeding 40 in a workweek, and the Department of Labor confirms on their wage page that no federal provision exists for holiday premium pay. What most workers experience as "holiday pay" comes from employer policy or union contracts, not legal obligation, and the standard practice among large employers is 1.5 times the regular rate on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day. Some employers pay double time on Christmas and Thanksgiving while offering 1.5 times on the remaining holidays, but again these are voluntary practices that vary widely by company and industry.
Double Time vs Time and a Half
Double time pays twice your regular rate while time and a half pays 1.5 times, and the difference in your paycheck is more substantial than the names suggest -- on a $25 per hour wage, double time gives you $50 per hour versus $37.50 for time and a half, a gap of $12.50 per overtime hour that adds up to $125 over a ten-hour overtime week. The FLSA itself does not require double time at all; the federal mandate stops at 1.5 times for hours over 40 per week. California stands out with a state law requiring double time after 12 hours in a single day and on the seventh consecutive workday, and a handful of other states have similar provisions. If you regularly work long shifts, the overtime calculator breaks down your total weekly pay including both regular and overtime hours.
Who Qualifies for Time and a Half?
The Department of Labor applies the 2019 overtime rule after a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas vacated the 2024 update on November 15, 2024. Under the current rule, salaried employees earning less than $684 per week ($35,568 per year) must receive overtime regardless of their job duties, and the highly compensated employee threshold sits at $107,432. Above $684 per week, exemption depends on whether the role qualifies as executive, administrative, or professional under the duties test -- and job titles alone do not determine status, which is where most employer-employee disputes originate. Hourly employees are nearly always covered unless they fall into narrow industry-specific exemptions for things like railroad workers or certain agricultural employees. If you are evaluating a job offer and want to compare the salary against hourly equivalents, our pay raise calculator converts between annual and hourly figures instantly.
How to Calculate Time and a Half
Three numbers, one multiplication: your regular hourly rate, a 1.5 multiplier, and the overtime hours you worked. That is the entire formula. If your rate is $18 per hour, your overtime rate is $27 ($18 × 1.5), and five overtime hours produces $135 in overtime pay. The calculator above runs that math instantly -- enter your rate and overtime hours and the result updates before you finish typing.
The part that trips people up is the premium portion. Time and a half means 1.5 times the regular rate, not the regular rate plus a separate 50 percent bonus on top of everything. Both descriptions produce the same number, but the first framing is cleaner: 1.5 times $20 is $30, full stop. If your paycheck ever looks off, comparing your actual earnings against the formula (rate × 1.5 × OT hours) is the fastest way to spot an error. For the full weekly picture including regular pay, use the weekly breakdown card in the calculator, or check our overtime calculator for a detailed breakdown by day.
Salaried workers who still qualify for overtime need one extra step before applying the 1.5 multiplier: divide the weekly salary by regular hours to get an implied hourly rate. A $900-per-week salary on a 40-hour schedule implies $22.50 per hour, which makes the overtime rate $33.75. The Department of Labor's overtime page covers this calculation in detail for anyone who needs the official method or is dealing with a pay dispute.
State Laws That Override the FLSA
The FLSA sets a federal floor -- employers must meet it, but states can go further. Several states have written stricter overtime rules into their own labor codes, and workers in those states get whichever standard is more protective. Knowing which rule applies to you matters because the difference can mean overtime pay for a long shift that the federal standard would not cover until the end of the workweek.
California has the most detailed daily overtime rule in the country. State law requires 1.5 times the regular rate for any hours over 8 in a single workday and over 40 in a workweek, plus double time for hours over 12 in a single day or on the seventh consecutive workday. Alaska and Nevada both impose daily overtime thresholds of their own, and Colorado follows similar daily rules under its state wage regulations. If you work in any of these states, the overtime hours shown in our calculator may undercount what you are actually owed -- the FLSA weekly threshold is not necessarily the binding rule at your workplace. Your state's labor department website is the authoritative source for the exact daily thresholds and any recent updates.