How to use this calculator
- Enter each twelve-hour worked shift on its actual workweek row.
- Remove unpaid meals only if they are still included in the entered span.
- Compare federal allocation with the California setting when appropriate, checking for any alternative workweek arrangement first.
Formula
Three twelve-hour worked shifts total thirty-six hours; four total forty-eight. Federal overtime is the excess over forty for the workweek. Under the standard California preset, hours above eight through twelve in each day are 1.5×, and hours above twelve are 2×.
Worked examples
Three twelve-hour shifts
Schedule: 12:00 + 12:00 + 12:00 of net worked time. The engine calculates 36:00 (36.00 hours).
Regular: 36:00 (36.00 h); overtime: 0:00 (0.00 h); double time: 0:00 (0.00 h). At $24.00 per hour, estimated gross pay is $864.00.
Four twelve-hour shifts
Schedule: 12:00 + 12:00 + 12:00 + 12:00 of net worked time. The engine calculates 48:00 (48.00 hours).
Regular: 40:00 (40.00 h); overtime: 8:00 (8.00 h); double time: 0:00 (0.00 h). At $24.00 per hour, estimated gross pay is $1,248.00.
A twelve-hour span may contain fewer worked hours
A roster labeled twelve hours can include an unpaid meal. If the recorded span is 07:00–19:00 with thirty unpaid minutes, the worked total is eleven hours thirty minutes. If the meal was already punched out, the segment gap removes it without another deduction. Use the actual net worked duration in the examples you compare with payroll. The label attached to a shift pattern is not precise enough to establish the paid-hour total.
Compare weekly and daily treatment
With three full twelve-hour shifts, the federal forty-hour model produces no weekly overtime. With four, it produces eight overtime hours. California’s standard preset allocates daily time-and-a-half within each twelve-hour day even before the weekly total reaches forty. A valid alternative workweek can change that daily treatment and is not modeled here. Do not infer a nurse-specific, industry-specific, or contractual exception from the shift length; this page models the selected general rule only.
Test an extra shift
Add a fourth shift to a three-shift sample to see the weekly effect without changing the rule midway through the comparison. Then inspect each daily row, especially if the shift extends beyond twelve worked hours or includes an unpaid meal. A pattern name alone does not identify a qualifying alternative workweek. Retain the ordinary-rule result as an arithmetic comparison while separately verifying any schedule exception with the relevant records and official source.
Overnight shifts and workday attribution
Each punch segment belongs entirely to the day it starts. An out time earlier than the in time crosses midnight. Daily totals, daily overtime, California seventh-day overtime, and weekly overtime all use that start-day attribution, including across a biweekly boundary. California daily overtime counts all hours attributed to that 24-hour workday. Employers may define a different fixed 24-hour workday, such as one starting at 6:00 a.m., so payroll results can differ.
Frequently asked questions
Is the twelfth hour double time in California?
Under the standard California rule, hours above eight through twelve are time-and-a-half. Double time begins above twelve worked hours in an ordinary day, with different treatment on the qualifying seventh day.
Will four twelve-hour shifts always have eight overtime hours?
That is the federal weekly result for forty-eight worked hours. Other selected rules can allocate daily overtime, and unpaid meals can reduce the actual worked-hour total below forty-eight.
How are overnight shifts counted?
A 10pm–6am segment counts as eight hours on its start day. A 6pm–8am segment counts as fourteen hours there, giving eight regular, four overtime, and two double-time hours under standard California rules. It stays in the starting workweek. An employer’s different fixed 24-hour workday, such as 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m., can change the result.