Model the additional federal overtime that may be attributable to a bonus after the bonus becomes known and is allocated back across the workweeks in which it was earned. Enter the covered workweeks, choose an allocation method supported by your facts, and see the bonus-related overtime adjustment week by week.
This calculator assumes the bonus has already been determined to be includable in the federal regular rate. It does not decide whether a bonus is discretionary, nondiscretionary, or otherwise excludable.
This is the modeled additional overtime adjustment from the bonus only. It is not the employee's total overtime pay for the covered period.
—The model retains internal precision and rounds displayed dollar results to cents. Payroll systems may use different permitted intermediate-rounding conventions, so a small cent-level difference can occur.
| Week | Total hrs | OT hrs | Allocated bonus | Hourly increase | Additional OT |
|---|
When an includable bonus covers a period longer than one workweek, the amount may not be known when the employee's original overtime is paid. Federal rules allow the employer to wait until the bonus becomes ascertainable, but then require the bonus to be apportioned back over the workweeks in which it was earned and the additional overtime attributable to the bonus to be paid for overtime weeks.
The calculation is a true-up because the employee's original straight-time compensation and original overtime premium are assumed to have already been paid. The tool isolates the incremental overtime effect created by the later bonus allocation.
The arithmetic depends on how the bonus can reasonably be connected to the covered period. The calculator makes the math transparent but deliberately does not choose the legal allocation method for you.
If the amount actually earned in each workweek can be identified, enter those exact weekly allocations. The tool divides each week's bonus allocation by that week's hours and calculates the additional half-time amount for that week's modeled overtime hours.
Federal guidance recognizes that, when actual weekly bonus earnings cannot be identified, an equal amount per covered workweek may be a reasonable and equitable allocation if the facts support that assumption. The calculator divides the total bonus evenly across the entered weeks.
When an equal weekly allocation would not fit the facts—for example, workweek hours vary substantially—federal guidance describes an equal-per-hour approach as another possible reasonable and equitable method. The total bonus is divided by all hours in the covered period.
The distinction between discretionary and nondiscretionary bonuses depends on the facts and applicable law. A label such as “discretionary bonus” is not by itself determinative. This calculator should be used only after the bonus treatment and covered earning period have been independently established. It also does not determine FLSA coverage or exemption status, state daily overtime, special industry rules, collective-bargaining formulas, fluctuating-workweek calculations, piece-rate methods, commission-specific methods, or whether an overtime premium can be credited under another rule.
A true-up becomes relevant when a payment that affects the regular rate is not known until after one or more covered workweeks have already been processed. The exact treatment depends on what the payment represents and when it was earned.
A bonus based on a predetermined production, quality, efficiency, attendance, safety, or similar formula may be nondiscretionary and therefore may affect the regular rate. If it covers multiple weeks, the later payment can require a retroactive overtime adjustment for overtime weeks.
An incentive can span several payroll cycles. If the amount attributable to specific workweeks can be identified, those amounts can be used directly. If not, the applicable federal framework calls for a reasonable and equitable allocation rather than simply assigning the entire bonus to the payment week.
Employers, payroll professionals, accountants, and employees can use the calculator to reproduce the arithmetic behind a bonus-related overtime correction. A transparent weekly breakdown makes it easier to compare a payroll true-up against the hours and bonus period actually involved.
U.S. Department of Labor guidance explains that nondiscretionary bonuses generally are included in the regular rate unless another statutory exclusion applies. When an includable bonus covers more than one workweek and is not ascertainable until later, 29 CFR 778.209 provides for allocating the bonus back over the period in which it was earned and paying an additional amount for each overtime workweek. Where actual weekly bonus earnings cannot be identified, the regulation describes using another reasonable and equitable allocation method, including equal-per-week or equal-per-hour approaches when supported by the facts.
Source review: August 30, 2026. This calculator models arithmetic from the cited federal framework; official sources should be rechecked when rules or guidance change.
These answers explain what the calculator does, how the allocation models work, and where the tool intentionally stops.
An includable bonus can increase the regular rate for the workweeks in which it was earned. If an employee worked federal overtime in those weeks, the higher regular rate can create an additional one-half-time amount attributable to the bonus after the bonus becomes known.
Not necessarily. For a bonus earned over a period longer than one workweek, federal guidance generally looks back to the period in which the bonus was earned. The bonus may need to be apportioned across those covered workweeks rather than treated only as compensation for the payment week.
If the bonus earned in each workweek is known, the exact weekly allocation is the most direct arithmetic input. If exact weekly earnings cannot be identified, the applicable federal regulation calls for another reasonable and equitable method. Equal-per-week and equal-per-hour models are examples described in federal guidance, but the facts determine whether either assumption is appropriate.
The true-up model assumes the employee already received straight-time compensation for every hour worked and the original overtime premium based on the compensation known at that time. The later bonus adds to the regular rate, so the incremental federal overtime amount attributable to that bonus is generally another one-half of the bonus-related hourly increase for each overtime hour.
The bonus can still be payable, but under this basic model there is no bonus-related overtime true-up for a workweek that does not contain hours over 40. The results will therefore show a zero additional overtime amount for those weeks.
Some percentage-based bonus arrangements can be treated differently because the bonus formula may already increase both straight-time and overtime compensation proportionally. This calculator does not determine whether that treatment applies. It is designed for a bonus that requires allocation back across covered workweeks and an additional overtime calculation.
No. It does not classify employees, determine FLSA coverage, or decide whether overtime is legally required. The workweek arithmetic assumes the basic federal hours-over-40 framework applies to the scenario entered.
No. It is a transparent calculation model. State and local overtime rules, industry-specific provisions, collective-bargaining agreements, special pay plans, payroll rounding conventions, or other facts can change the required calculation.
The calculation runs locally in the browser. Bonus amounts and workweek hours are not sent to a PayStubCheck calculation endpoint, stored in local browser storage, or included in analytics events.