Blended-rate overtime is arithmetic anyone can do with a calculator or a spreadsheet. The problem is that the correct method has two non-obvious steps — weighting the regular rate by hours instead of averaging it, and applying only half the blended rate as the overtime premium instead of the full 1.5x — and a hand calculation that misses either one produces a wrong total that still looks reasonable.
| Step | Common mistake by hand | What this calculator does |
|---|---|---|
| Finding the regular rate for the week | Average the two rates (e.g. ($20 + $15) / 2 = $17.50), which ignores how many hours were worked at each. | Total straight-time pay ÷ total hours — correctly weighted by hours actually worked at each rate. |
| Applying the overtime premium | Multiply overtime hours by the full 1.5x blended rate, double-counting the straight-time pay for those hours that is already in the total. | Multiplies overtime hours by only the extra half-time premium (0.5x the blended rate), on top of straight-time pay already counted once. |
| Reusing a rate across weeks | Carrying over last week's blended rate or a job title's "usual" rate, which is wrong the moment the hours-at-each-rate mix changes. | Recomputes the regular rate fresh from this week's entries every time. |
| Adding a third rate later | A spreadsheet formula built for two rate columns silently ignores a third row if the SUM range wasn't extended. | Add-a-row supports any number of rates; the total always sums every row present. |
| Is anything I enter uploaded anywhere? | N/A | No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser; nothing is sent to a server. |
Averaging the two hourly rates instead of weighting by hours. A simple average treats 5 hours at one rate the same as 35 hours at it; the correct regular rate is total straight-time pay divided by total hours, which weights each rate by how much of the week was actually worked at it.
Because the straight-time total already counts every hour worked once, including the overtime hours, at their own rate. Multiplying the overtime hours by the full blended rate again and adding 1.5x on top double-counts that first 1x. The correct premium is only the extra half-time (0.5x the blended rate) on top of straight-time pay that is already there.
No, if they worked at more than one rate that week. The FLSA regular rate for a week with multiple hourly rates is specific to that week's mix of hours — it changes whenever the split between rates changes, even for the same employee doing the same two jobs. A rate reused from a previous week or from one job title is not the regular rate for a week with a different mix.
Only if it is built correctly and nobody adds a third rate, changes the threshold, or copies a cell reference wrong later. A formula that hardcodes two rate columns silently produces a wrong total the day a third rate row is added and the SUM range isn't updated — a common way a working sheet quietly breaks weeks after it was checked.
No — neither this calculator nor a spreadsheet built from the FAQ here knows your state's daily-overtime, double-time, or bonus-inclusion rules. Both apply the federal FLSA weighted-average formula to the numbers you enter; check your state's rules and your own pay policy before relying on the total.