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Blended overtime rate calculator
Worked two or three different rates this week — days and nights, floor and charge, two jobs for one employer? Overtime is owed on the weighted average of all of them, not the highest and not your base. Enter each rate and its hours; get the FLSA regular rate and the premium payroll must pay on it.
Blended overtime rate: $36.00/hr. Paid on the highest rate instead, the premium would be $150.00; on the lowest, $100.00.
This is the FLSA §778.115 weighted average — total straight-time pay divided by total hours — not the highest rate, not the base rate.
How it works — one week, two rates
The calculator opens on a week of 30 hours at $20.00 and 20 hours at $30.00: 50 hours in all, so 10 of them are overtime under the 40-hour federal rule. Straight time is 30 × $20.00 + 20 × $30.00 = $1,200.00. Divide that by 50 hours and you have the regular rate: $24.00/hr. That single number is what 29 CFR 778.115 calls the weighted average, and it is the only rate the overtime premium may be computed on when there is no rate-in-effect agreement.
Because every hour was already paid at straight time, the overtime premium is the extra half only: 10 × $24.00 × 0.5 = $120.00. The week totals $1,320.00. On a paystub the same money often appears as 10 hours at $36.00 plus 40 hours at the two straight rates; either presentation is correct if the total matches.
Now the two ways it goes wrong. Payroll that computes the premium on the lowest or base rate pays 10 × $20.00 × 0.5 = $100.00, which is $20.00 short. A payroll that uses the highest rate pays $150.00, $30.00 more than required; employers may do that voluntarily, but nothing forces them to. The weighted average sits between the two, weighted toward whichever rate you worked more hours at.
Add a third rate and the arithmetic does not change. Tack on 8 hours of lead work at $25.00: straight time becomes $1,400.00 over 58 hours, a regular rate of $24.14, and the 18 overtime hours earn a premium of $217.24 for a week of $1,617.24. A shift differential works the same way, because a differential is just another rate on some of the hours: see the shift differential calculator for the single-differential case, or the overtime pay calculator for a full week at one base rate. If your rotation puts 48 or 60 hours in some workweeks, the overtime on 12-hour shifts guide explains why the workweek boundary, not the pay period, decides how much is overtime.
FAQ
What is a blended overtime rate?
A blended overtime rate is the overtime rate owed when you worked at two or more pay rates in the same workweek. Under 29 CFR 778.115 the regular rate is total straight-time pay divided by total hours, and overtime is 1.5 times that weighted average. 30 hours at $20.00 and 20 hours at $30.00 is $1,200.00 over 50 hours, a $24.00 regular rate, so each overtime hour is paid at $36.00.
Do I use the highest rate for overtime?
No, unless your employer chooses to, which is allowed but not required. The FLSA default is the weighted average of every rate you worked that week. Paying overtime on the highest rate alone overpays; paying it on the lowest or the base rate underpays, which is the common payroll error. An employer may instead use the rate in effect during the overtime hours, but only under an agreement made before the work.
Does the weighted average apply to shift differentials?
Yes. A shift differential is simply a second rate: a $20 base with a $4 night differential means night hours are paid at $24, and those hours go into the same weighted average as your day hours. 29 CFR 778.207 names shift differentials as pay that must be included in the regular rate, so overtime is never computed on the bare base rate in a week when a differential was earned.
What if my employer uses the rate in effect?
29 CFR 778.419 lets an employer pay overtime at 1.5 times the rate in effect during the overtime hours instead of the weighted average, but only if you agreed to it before the work was done and the rates are genuine job rates rather than a device to cut overtime. With no such agreement, the weighted average applies. Ask which method your paystub uses; the two can differ by several dollars an overtime hour.
Is blended OT the same as the regular rate?
Not quite. The regular rate is the weighted average itself, total straight-time pay divided by total hours, $24.00 in the example above. The blended overtime rate is 1.5 times that, $36.00. Because straight time was already paid on every hour, payroll adds only the extra half, $12.00 per overtime hour, as the premium. The calculator shows the regular rate and the premium so you can check either figure on a paystub.
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