Payment of one and one half times an employee's regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, as required by the Federal Wage-Hour Law (for nonexempt employees only).

Also known as time-and-one-half. A term used in conjunction with overtime pay when an employee gets a 50% higher pay rate for hours in excess of 40 hours per week. The "half" is also known as the overtime premium. For example, an employee earning $8 per hour is required to work 41 hours this week. The employee will earn $320 for the first 40 hours ($8 times 40) plus $12 (150% of $8) for the 41st hour - for a total of $332. The total can also be computed as 41 hours times the straight-time rate of $8 = $328 plus the $4 overtime premium (the half of $8) - for a total of $332. To Top

Time-and-a-half is when a worker (or workers) is paid 1.5 times their usual hourly rate. It is usually paid as an incentive to work on a particular day (e.g. on Sundays) or as government-mandated compensation for having workers work on particular days (e.g. public holidays).