Is overtime calculated on my base rate or my differential rate?

Under the federal rule, on the regular rate — total straight-time earnings divided by hours worked, which includes non-discretionary shift differentials. So a week of nights has a regular rate above your base rate, and overtime should be calculated on the higher figure. This tool shows both so you can compare against a payslip. Whether a particular payment counts towards your regular rate depends on how your employer classifies it, so a difference is a question to ask rather than proof of an error.

How does it handle a shift that crosses midnight?

It splits the hours by clock window. A 19:00 to 07:30 shift with a night window starting at 23:00 is four evening hours and eight night hours, each paid at its own rate, rather than being treated as one kind of shift throughout.

Does a Friday night shift count as a weekend shift?

That depends on your employer's policy and this tool cannot know it. Weekend and holiday rates apply to the whole shift when you tick the box, so you decide whether the shift qualifies rather than having a rule imposed on you.

Where does it assume my unpaid break falls?

In whichever window pays most, which gives the lowest figure your rules can produce. If your break actually falls in a lower-paid window the shift is worth slightly more than shown. Erring low is the safer direction for an estimate.

Why is there no tax calculation?

Because a correct one would need your filing status, state, pre-tax deductions, retirement contributions and year-to-date earnings, and getting it slightly wrong is worse than not doing it. Every figure here is gross.

Which overtime rule should I choose?

Whichever your employer actually uses. Over 40 hours a week is the federal baseline, and three twelve-hour shifts is 36 hours, so it often does not apply at all. Some states and many union contracts use a daily rule instead, which produces overtime on every twelve-hour shift.

Is anything I enter sent anywhere?

No. It is all calculated in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored or logged.

Nursing Shift Pay & Differential Calculator

Work out what a shift actually pays once night, evening, weekend and holiday differentials are in it — including the part most calculators get wrong, which is what happens to overtime once you have been working nights.

What this is An arithmetic tool. It calculates what the rules you enter produce. It is not payroll, it does not determine what you are legally owed, and it applies no tax. Overtime rules differ by state, employer and contract — check yours.

The shift

Base rate (per hour)

Starts

Ends

Unpaid break (minutes)

Weekend shift Holiday Extra per hour for

Your differentials

Set these to whatever your employer actually pays. The clock windows decide which hours count as evening or night — a shift that crosses midnight gets split between them.

Weekend, per hour

Holiday, per hour

This shift

A week of these

Shifts a week Overtime rule

The regular rate, and why overtime is usually understated

This is the part worth understanding, because it is money people do not notice missing.

Overtime is commonly described as “time and a half”, and everyone assumes that means one and a half times their base rate. Under the federal rule it is one and a half times the regular rate — and the regular rate is your total straight-time earnings divided by the hours you worked, which includes non-discretionary shift differentials.

So if you are on $40 an hour and earn $6 an hour extra for nights, a week of nights does not have a regular rate of $40. It is closer to $45, and every overtime hour should be calculated on that higher figure. Overtime worked out on base alone quietly underpays, and on a run of night shifts the gap is not small.

The week above shows both figures side by side so you can compare them against a payslip. If they differ, that is a question for payroll — not proof of anything, because bonuses, how your employer classifies a differential, and your state's rules all affect it.

Why a night shift needs splitting

A 19:00 to 07:30 shift is not a night shift for its whole length. With a night window starting at 23:00, four of those hours are evening and eight are night, and if the two pay different amounts then a single figure for the shift is wrong.

The same shift starting on a Friday ends on a Saturday, which raises a question no tool can answer for you: does a weekend differential apply to a shift that begins on a weekday? Employers differ. That is why the weekend and holiday rates here apply to the whole shift when you tick the box, rather than being worked out from the clock — you know your policy and the calculator does not.

The unpaid break

Nobody records which part of a shift their break fell in, and it changes the answer slightly: half an hour taken out of night hours costs more than half an hour taken out of evening hours.

This takes the break from whichever window pays most, which produces the lowest figure your stated rules can give. An estimate that errs low is more useful than one that promises money which may not appear.