Employee shift schedule & overtime calculator

Federal weekly overtime versus California daily overtime

The FLSA overtime rule is simple: hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek are paid at 1.5x. It says nothing about daily hours, which is why a six-day week of six-and-a-half hours each (39 hours) attracts no federal overtime at all.

California is different in a way that costs employers real money. Hours beyond 8 in a single workday are paid at 1.5x, hours beyond 12 at 2.0x, and the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek carries its own premium — the first 8 hours at 1.5x and anything beyond at 2.0x. Several other states (Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, Oregon and Washington in various forms) have daily overtime provisions too.

Per day:   regular = min(hours, 8)
           OT 1.5x = min(max(hours − 8, 0), 4)
           OT 2.0x = max(hours − 12, 0)

Then:      if total hours > 40, hours above 40 that have NOT
           already received a daily premium move to 1.5x

Overtime is burdened overtime

The 1.5x premium is only the visible part of an overtime hour. FICA applies to the premium, workers compensation premiums are calculated on payroll including overtime (except in a minority of states that exclude it from the premium base), and the retirement match is usually calculated on total compensation.

This is why "we will just pay overtime instead of hiring" is often the more expensive decision. Running a fully burdened comparison — as the calculator does — usually shows that a new hire at straight time plus benefits costs less than the overtime premium on existing staff, once you account for the productivity of a tired crew.

Meal and rest breaks are governed separately

California requires a 30-minute unpaid meal period before the end of the fifth hour of work, and a second meal period by the end of the tenth hour. Miss it, and the employer owes one additional hour of pay per missed break — per employee, per day. It is a small bill that becomes enormous in class litigation.

The timesheet tab models lunch as a deduction from length of shift, so a six-hour shift that shows 6.0 hours on the schedule becomes 5.5 paid hours. In payables terms, a shift longer than six hours that deducts no meal break is an audit flag, not an efficiency.

• Meal period due before the end of the 5th hour; second meal by the end of the 10th hour.
• Rest breaks are paid time and cannot be offset against the meal period.
• A missed meal break premium is one hour of the employee’s regular rate.
• Written meal-break waivers are permitted for shifts under six hours in California.
• Keep records of break times — in a dispute, the employer bears the burden of proof.

Pricing the exposure before a claim arrives

Most wage-and-hour claims are not about intent — they are about recordkeeping. If your records do not show meal breaks taken, overtime calculated correctly and hours worked, the employee's estimate is often accepted over yours.

The audit tab of the workbook converts your weekly overtime figure into an annualised exposure, doubling it for liquidated damages where state statute permits, and multiplying by headcount. The number is usually startling enough to make a scheduling change obviously worthwhile.

• Liquidated damages commonly double the back-pay figure, before attorneys’ fees.
• Late payment penalties apply to wages not paid on the normal payday.
• Class treatment multiplies an individual error across every affected employee.
• The cheapest fix is almost always an additional part-time shift rather than more overtime.