Tools California Wage Math
Regular Rate of Pay Calculator
Build the regular rate, overtime, double time, and meal or rest premiums for any pay structure recognized by the DLSE Manual: any mix of hourly rates, salary, piece rate, day rates, commissions, board or lodging, and the three bonus archetypes, across one workweek or a full pay period.
Not legal advice. This tool applies rules to the inputs you classify; it can contain errors and is not a substitute for legal judgment. Whether a bonus is nondiscretionary, whether it is flat-sum or production, and when the workweek begins are yours to decide. Verify every figure against current authority.
Every figure stays in your browser: nothing is uploaded, logged, or shared.
Setup
Choose how to enter hours and which rules govern this employee.
Weekly totals take the overtime split as you enter it. By-day entry classifies each hour automatically under Labor Code § 510(a): daily overtime, daily double time over 12, the seventh consecutive day, and the weekly forty, with no pyramiding.
Applies to every hours field: weekly totals, the by-day grid, hours at a rate, and § 226.2 time.
Preset to the statewide rate of $16.90 as of January 1, 2026; many local ordinances and the fast food and health care industries require more, so enter the highest rate that applies. Used as the § 226.2 floor for piece-rate rest and nonproductive pay, as the default rate for nonproductive time, and to flag any week whose regular rate or effective straight-time rate falls below the minimum. Clear it to disable the checks.
Workweeks1 workweek
Enter each workweek’s hours, every form of pay earned in it, and any meal or rest premiums owed. Pay items can be combined freely: hourly plus piece rate, hourly plus commissions, salary plus commissions, and so on.
Overtime is computed per workweek. Add the period’s other weeks for a biweekly or semimonthly pay period so a flat-sum bonus divides by the whole period’s nonovertime hours (Alvarado).
Pay-Period Bonuses
Nondiscretionary bonuses earned over the pay period entered above. The type is a legal classification, and it changes the math.
A fixed amount that does not rise with output (attendance, retention, longevity). Divided by the period’s nonovertime hours actually worked and owed at the full 1.5× and 2× multiples (Alvarado; DLSE Manual § 49.2.4.3).
Rises with what the employee produces. Divided by the period’s total hours and owed at the additional 0.5× and 1× premiums, because it already compensates every hour at straight time.
A percentage of total earnings including overtime. It carries its own overtime, so no add-on is owed, but it still raises the regular rate used for meal and rest premiums.
Exclude discretionary bonuses, gifts, tips, expense reimbursements, premium pay itself, and pay for time not worked; an Excluded Pay item is available in each workweek to show such amounts on the worksheet without counting them.
Worksheet
Enter the hours and pay to see the regular rate.
- Overtime Rate (1.5×)
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- Double-Time Rate (2×)
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- Meal or Rest Premium (One Hour)
A Note on These Numbers
The regular rate is total includable compensation divided by total hours, with overtime layered on top. This tool pools every payment that compensates hours worked at straight time (hourly wages at any number of rates, piece-rate earnings, day and job rates, commissions, the value of board or lodging, and § 226.2 rest, recovery, and nonproductive-time pay) and divides by the workweek’s total hours, owing the additional 0.5× and 1× premiums on those pooled earnings. Salary layers on top at 1/40th of the weekly amount with the full 1.5× and 2× multiples under Labor Code § 515(d)(1). A flat-sum bonus divides by the pay period’s nonovertime hours at the full multiples (Alvarado v. Dart Container); a production bonus divides by total hours at the half-time premium; a percentage-of-earnings bonus carries its own overtime (Lemm v. Ecolab). Meal and rest premiums are one hour each at the regular rate (Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel), floored at the minimum wage when one is entered, and capped at one meal and one rest premium per workday. By-day entry classifies hours under § 510(a), including the seventh consecutive day and a 4/10 daily threshold.
Where a question is unsettled or fact-specific, the tool flags it rather than guessing. Multiple hourly rates blend by weighted average; the rate-in-effect alternative recognized in Levanoff v. Dragas is not modeled. The 10-hour threshold assumes a validly adopted 4/10 schedule on scheduled days; hours outside the schedule, and 9/80 arrangements, need separate treatment. The § 226.2 rest and recovery rate uses the productive average floored at the minimum wage; whether a meal or rest period violation occurred is a judgment you make, and the tool prices the counts you enter. The minimum-wage check flags shortfalls and floors the premium rate, but it does not compute the underpayment; California prohibits averaging, so each hour must independently satisfy the applicable minimum (Gonzalez v. Downtown LA Motors; Bluford v. Safeway). Sick-pay rates under § 246 and reporting-time and split-shift premiums are outside this tool. Confirm every figure against the pay records and the governing wage order before relying on it.