Overtime Pay Calculator: what your hours are actually worth
The rules look different in the US and China, but the math is simple. Here is how to check your own pay in ten minutes.
United States: FLSA rules
- Work over 40 hours in a workweek is overtime, paid at 1.5 times your regular rate.
- White-collar exemption: salaried workers earning at least about $684/week ($35,568/year) who perform executive, administrative or professional duties may be excluded. Some states (California, New York, Washington) set higher thresholds.
Worked example: hourly wage $20, you work 45 hours. Regular pay: 40 × $20 = $800. Overtime: 5 × $20 × 1.5 = $150. Total due: $950. If your check was $900, you are owed $50.
China: Labor Law Article 44
- Extended hours on workdays: at least 150% of normal wage.
- Rest-day work without compensatory leave: at least 200%.
- Statutory holidays (Spring Festival, National Day, etc.): at least 300%.
Worked example: monthly salary ¥10,000. Hourly base = 10,000 ÷ 21.75 ÷ 8 ≈ ¥57.5/hour. Two weekday evening overtime hours: 2 × 57.5 × 1.5 ≈ ¥172.5. One Saturday worked with no comp leave: 8 × 57.5 × 2 ≈ ¥920. One Spring Festival day: 8 × 57.5 × 3 ≈ ¥1,380.
Rule comparison at a glance
| Situation | United States (FLSA) | China (Labor Law Art. 44) |
|---|---|---|
| Weekday extension | Over 40h/week → 1.5x | 150% of hourly wage, cash |
| Weekend / rest day | Same 1.5x after 40h | 200% unless comp leave granted |
| Statutory holiday | No federal premium required | 300%, always cash |
| Comp time instead of cash | Private employers: no | Rest-day only: yes |
A common trap in both countries: salaried staff assume overtime does not apply to them. In the US, salary alone does not exempt you — your duties matter, and earning under roughly $35,568 a year means you are likely non-exempt. In China, the so-called flexible-hours exemption (不定时工作制) is granted by the labor bureau per position, not claimed inside a contract. If your contract merely says you are exempt, that clause proves little.
Another trap: the employer splits one long week into two pay periods to keep each under 40 hours. The rule runs on the workweek, not the pay period. And in China, remember the arithmetic base: daily wage equals monthly salary divided by 21.75, hourly by a further 8 — not by 30 days, a mistake that silently undercounts you by nearly a third.
How it works
- Find your regular rate: hourly wage (US) or monthly salary ÷ 21.75 ÷ 8 (China).
- Multiply by the right premium: 1.5x (US overtime), or 150% / 200% / 300% by situation (China).
- Compare the expected amount to your pay stub; keep records while you raise the gap with HR.
US: hourly and most non-exempt workers are; salaried workers above roughly $35,568 a year ($684/week) who perform executive, administrative or professional duties may be exempt. China: standard-hour workers are covered; the exempt flexible-hours system requires government approval, not just a contract clause.
US: private employers almost cannot give comp time instead of cash; only public agencies may. China: rest-day overtime can be offset by equal compensatory leave instead of 200% pay, but weekday extension and statutory-holiday work must still be paid in cash at 150% and 300%.
Only if the allowance actually covers the required premium. If you work 10 overtime hours at $30 and they pay a flat $150, they owe $150 more. Calculate the true number first: regular rate times 1.5 (US) or 150%/200%/300% of your hourly wage (China).
US: FLSA gives 2 years normally, 3 years for willful violations. China: labor arbitration has a one-year limitation, though wage claims can reach further during an ongoing employment relationship. Act fast — time records are the thing you lose first.
Keep time-sheet screenshots, clock-in records, emails showing you were working late, and pay stubs for at least 12 months. If your employer does not keep records, your own contemporaneous notes still count in a claim.
Who this tool is for
This page is for people whose pay stub and calendar disagree: the hourly worker who regularly stays an extra hour, the salaried employee told that salary means no overtime, the remote worker whose Saturday shift was answered with a flat "allowance", and the team lead who suspects a long week was split across two pay periods to keep each one under the threshold.
It is also for the person who simply wants to know what a rest day is worth before agreeing to cover one. It is not a substitute for a payroll audit or a claim, but it gives you an expected number to compare with the number you were paid.
How to read your result
In the US calculation, the trigger is hours over 40 in a single workweek, paid at 1.5 times the regular rate. Read the result as regular pay for the first 40 hours plus the premium for the rest. A workweek is not a pay period, so two calm weeks cannot cancel out one heavy week. Salary alone does not settle exemption; duties and the salary threshold matter, and some states set a higher bar than the federal figure shown above.
In the China calculation, the base is monthly salary divided by 21.75 and then by 8 to get an hourly figure. Weekday extension is paid at 150%, rest-day work without compensatory leave at 200%, and statutory-holiday work at 300%. Compensatory leave can replace the rest-day payment, but not the weekday or holiday payment. The result is a comparison figure for a conversation, not a ruling on your classification.
Before any of that, keep a simple log for one month: date, start, finish and what you were doing. A visible pattern is easier to discuss than a single grievance, and the log costs about five minutes a day.
A worked example
A US employee earns $23.50 an hour and works 46 hours in one week. Regular pay is 40 × 23.50 = $940. Overtime is 6 × 23.50 × 1.5 = $211.50. Total due is $1,151.50. If the stub shows a flat $1,080 for the week, the gap is $71.50, and that is the number to raise rather than the vague feeling that the week was long.
A China employee earns ¥13,500 a month, so the hourly base is 13,500 ÷ 21.75 ÷ 8 = ¥77.59. Three weekday evening hours come to 3 × 77.59 × 1.5 = ¥349.14. One rest day of eight hours without comp leave is 8 × 77.59 × 2 = ¥1,241.38. One statutory holiday of eight hours is 8 × 77.59 × 3 = ¥1,862.07. The three items together are ¥3,452.59; a flat allowance should be measured against that total, not against the base wage.
Common mistakes
- Dividing the monthly salary by 30 days or by 31. The 21.75 divisor is the convention used here, and the other method understates the hourly rate.
- Averaging two weeks before applying the 40-hour rule. Each workweek stands on its own.
- Assuming a salaried title removes overtime. Classification depends on duties and pay level, not the word "salary".
- Accepting comp time for weekday or holiday hours, where the cash premium still applies.
- Treating a fixed allowance as proof that overtime was covered, without multiplying the hours yourself.
- Waiting months before collecting timesheets and pay stubs; records are the first thing that disappears.
This page provides general information and arithmetic, not legal advice. Overtime rules depend on job classification, industry, contract and location, and they change. If a real dispute, a dismissal risk or a large unpaid amount is involved, consult a licensed professional or your local labor authority before acting.
Sources and further reading
Overtime rates and hour thresholds cited here are checked against the sources below. Exemptions, daily overtime rules and multipliers vary by jurisdiction.