Overtime & Incentive Calculator
Estimate pay for entered overtime hours at (hourly rate + shift differential) × your multiplier, plus a flat incentive. This tool does not calculate a statutory regular rate or bonus overtime true-up.
| Item | Value |
|---|
Related guides
Why a bonus changes your overtime pay
Overtime is 1.5× your regular rate, not 1.5× your hourly wage. The regular rate is total straight-time earnings for the week divided by hours worked — and under the US FLSA that total includes nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials and commission.
| Payment | In the regular rate? |
|---|---|
| Nondiscretionary bonus (production, attendance, quality) | Yes |
| Shift differential for nights or weekends | Yes |
| Commission | Yes |
| Genuinely discretionary bonus | No |
| Holiday or vacation pay | No |
| Expense reimbursement | No |
Last reviewed 20 August 2026
Worked example
46 hours worked, $20.00 base rate, 12 night-shift hours at a $3.00 differential, plus a $100 nondiscretionary weekly production bonus.
In this illustrative example, using base pay alone understates the premium. The example is separate from the simple entered-rate tool above.
Full detail in overtime pay basics.
Overtime and bonus questions
Do bonuses count towards overtime pay?
Nondiscretionary bonuses do. A bonus promised in advance for production, attendance, quality or hitting a target must be included in the regular rate used to calculate overtime under the FLSA. Genuinely discretionary bonuses do not.
How is overtime calculated with a bonus?
Add the bonus to straight-time earnings for the week, divide by hours worked to get the regular rate, then pay an additional half of that rate for each hour over 40.
What if the bonus covers more than one week?
It has to be allocated back across the weeks it was earned over, with the overtime premium recalculated for any week containing overtime hours. A $1,300 quarterly bonus over 13 weeks allocates $100 per week. This retroactive adjustment is frequently missed.
Does a shift differential increase overtime pay?
Yes. Shift differentials are part of straight-time earnings, so they raise the regular rate and therefore the overtime premium.
Reviewed 20 August 2026 by the BonusPayCalc editorial team. Gross planning estimates only — not payroll, tax, legal or HR advice. See methodology for how formulas are chosen, or report a correction.
Scope of this estimate
The tool assumes every entered overtime hour receives the same shift differential and that the multiplier applies to both hourly components. The flat incentive is added separately. It does not have total weekly hours or all includable earnings, so it cannot calculate the FLSA regular rate or additional overtime due on a nondiscretionary bonus.
For U.S. federal examples of regular-rate calculations, see Department of Labor Fact Sheet 56C. Weekly base allocation uses 52 weeks and monthly uses 12 months; these are planning conventions, not payroll-period rules. Pay-period mode uses the entered pay periods per year (default 26).