Shift Differential Calculator: Night & Weekend Pay with Overtime
Enter your hourly rate, your night, evening or weekend differential and a week of shifts. The calculator counts the hours inside each differential window, overnight shifts included, and works out your differential pay, your regular rate and overtime on that rate. Nothing leaves your browser.
Your week
| Day | Start | End | Unpaid break (min) | Hours | Differential pay |
|---|
Leave a day empty for a day off. A shift that ends at or before its start time ends the next morning.
How shift differential pay works
A shift differential is extra pay for hours worked at less popular times: evenings, nights or weekends. It is either a flat amount per hour (for example $4 an hour) or a percent of your base rate (10% of $40 is also $4 an hour). Only the hours inside the differential window earn it: a 1900 to 0730 shift with a night differential from 1900 to 0700 has 12 of its 12.5 hours at night. Some employers pay the differential for the whole shift when most of it falls in the window; to match that, set the window to cover the whole shift.
An unpaid break comes out of every part of the shift in proportion: a 30-minute break in a 12.5-hour shift leaves 96% of each part paid. If your employer takes the break out of one part only, the result moves by at most the break times the differential.
Example: four 12-hour nights
A nurse earns $40 an hour with a $4 night differential (1900 to 0700) and a $2 weekend differential (Saturday and Sunday) that adds to the night one. They work Wednesday to Saturday, 1900 to 0730, with a 30-minute unpaid break: 48 paid hours (their workweek runs Monday to Sunday).
- Base pay: 48 × $40 = $1,920.00
- Night differential: 11.52 paid night hours a shift × 4 shifts × $4 = $184.32
- Weekend differential: Friday's shift runs into Saturday (7.2 paid hours) and Saturday's is all weekend (12 hours): 19.2 × $2 = $38.40
- Straight-time pay: $2,142.72, so the regular rate is $2,142.72 ÷ 48 = $44.64
- Overtime premium: 8 hours past 40 × ½ × $44.64 = $178.56
- Gross pay: $2,321.28. Figured on the $40 base alone, the overtime premium would be $160.00, which is $18.56 short.
These are the calculator's starting values, so you can change one number and see what it does.
Overtime with shift differentials
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, night shift differentials are part of your regular rate, whether they are a percent of the base rate or a flat amount per hour (29 CFR 778.207(b)). The regular rate is your total straight-time pay for the week (base pay, differentials and most bonuses) divided by the hours you worked (29 CFR 778.109; with more than one rate, it is their weighted average: 778.115). Every hour has already been paid at straight time, so each overtime hour adds half the regular rate on top. That is 1.5 × the blended rate, not 1.5 × your base rate.
Weekend and holiday premiums are the exception to watch. A premium of at least 1.5 times the rate for the same work on other days can be left out of the regular rate and counted toward the overtime owed (29 U.S.C. 207(e)(6)). Typical weekend differentials, like $2 an hour or 10%, are far smaller and stay in. The calculator includes every differential you enter, so leave out a weekend premium of time and a half or more.
If your pay stub shows overtime figured on your base rate alone, it is worth asking about. (A narrow alternative exists for people who do two different jobs at different rates, 29 CFR 778.419; it is not a way to leave out a night differential.) States can add their own rules, such as California's daily overtime after 8 hours: the time card calculator has state presets. The same regular rate sets the FLSA half-time premium, which is what can count toward the federal no tax on overtime deduction (with its own caps and income limits).
All of this applies to non-exempt employees (most hourly workers). Hospitals and residential care facilities may instead use an agreed 14-day period with overtime after 8 hours a day and 80 hours in the 14 days (29 U.S.C. 207(j)). With 12-hour shifts that changes the overtime a lot, and this weekly calculator doesn't model it.
The FLSA counts hours in the workweek they are worked in, a fixed and recurring 168-hour period. This calculator puts a whole shift in the week it starts, so if your workweek ends in the middle of a night shift, the hours after that point belong to the next week.
Is shift differential required?
Not by federal law. The U.S. Department of Labor says extra pay for night work is a matter of agreement between the employer and the employee, and the FLSA does not require it (DOL: night work). Differentials come from your employer's pay policy or a union contract, which also decide the hours, the amount and whether weekend and night differentials add up.
FAQ
Does shift differential count toward overtime pay?
Yes, in general. Under the FLSA, shift differentials such as night or evening premiums are part of the regular rate, whether they are a percent of the base rate or a flat amount per hour (29 CFR 778.207(b)). The regular rate is the week's straight-time pay divided by the hours worked, and overtime adds half of that rate for each hour past 40. Weekend or holiday premiums of at least 1.5 times the normal rate are the exception.
Is shift differential required by law?
Not by federal law. The U.S. Department of Labor says extra pay for night work is a matter of agreement between the employer and the employee, and the FLSA does not require it. Differentials come from your employer's pay policy or a union contract.
How do you calculate a percentage shift differential?
Multiply your base rate by the percentage: a 10% differential on $40 an hour is $4 an hour, so night hours pay $44. Multiply the extra by the hours worked inside the differential window.
Do I get the differential on overtime hours too?
In this calculator, yes: every hour inside the differential window earns it, overtime hours included, and the overtime premium is then figured on the regular rate, which already includes the differentials. Your pay policy decides which hours earn a differential.
Rules checked on 2026-10-08 against U.S. DOL: night work, 29 U.S.C. 207(e)(6) and (j) and 29 CFR 778.109, 778.207, 778.115 and 778.419. Information, not legal advice: your pay policy, union contract and the law where you work decide what you are owed. Corrections: [email protected] · how we check facts.