Three 12s or four 12s? Enter your shift times and see the week's real paid hours, overtime and gross — under federal rules or California's daily rules.
Twelve-hour rotations compress the workweek: three shifts are about 36 paid hours, four are about 48. Under the federal rule only the weekly total matters, so a 3×12 week earns no overtime at all and a 4×12 week earns roughly 8 overtime hours — the pattern surprises many new nurses, because no single day triggers anything.
California is the opposite: a 12-hour shift is never "straight time." Each one contains 4 hours of daily overtime (hours 9–12 at 1.5×), and a shift longer than 12 adds double time. The California mode here applies that daily split first and then reconciles the week, like the full California Overtime Calculator. One more real-world variant: hospitals may elect the federal "8 and 80" system — overtime after 8 hours in a day or 80 hours in a 14-day period — which produces yet another split; ask your payroll which system your facility uses.
California's daily overtime done properly: 1.5× after 8 hours, double time after 12, the 7th-consecutive-day rule, and no double-counting.
Free — try itNight and weekend premiums change your real rate. This calculator blends the differential into the regular rate — including for overtime, as the law requires.
Free — try itThe flagship weekly time card: clock in/out and breaks for 7 days, overtime split at 40 hours, gross pay, print and CSV — plus Save My Week on your device.
Free — try itThe federal rule in one box: weekly hours and your rate in, regular hours, overtime hours at 1.5× and total gross pay out.
Free — try itThree 12-hour shifts are about 36 paid hours a week — full-time for scheduling at most facilities, but under the federal rule there is no overtime until a week passes 40 hours. In California, each 12-hour shift itself contains 4 daily overtime hours.
About 48 paid hours means roughly 8 federal overtime hours. In California the same week has 16 daily overtime hours (4 per shift) before the weekly reconciliation, so the premium total is higher.
A federal option for hospitals and residential care facilities: overtime after 8 hours in a workday or 80 hours in a 14-day period, whichever gives the employee more. It requires an agreement or understanding with employees before work is performed.
The usual pattern is a 30-minute unpaid meal break plus paid short rest breaks. Enter only the unpaid meal minutes as the break here; paid rest breaks stay in your paid time.
This tool models one repeating shift: it takes the paid length of a single shift, lays it across the number of shifts per week you choose, and then splits the week under the rule you pick. Under federal rules the split is purely weekly — the first 40 hours are regular and everything past 40 is overtime. Under California rules each day is split first (regular up to 8 hours, 1.5× up to 12, 2× beyond 12, with the 7th-consecutive-day rule on top), and any regular hours left above 40 are then moved into overtime so no hour is ever paid at two premiums.
A nurse works 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM with a 30-minute unpaid break, 4 shifts a week, at $25/hour, under California rules. Each shift is 11:30 paid, and every shift already contains 3:30 of daily overtime (hours 9 to 11.5 at 1.5×). The week totals 46:00 hours: 32:00 regular and 14:00 overtime, for a gross of $1,325.00 — $800.00 regular pay plus $525.00 overtime pay. Under federal rules the same week would split as 40 regular + 6 overtime, because only the weekly total matters there.
Because California prices each day, not just the week. A 12-hour shift holds 4 hours past the 8-hour daily line, so overtime starts on the very first shift. Federal mode waits until the week passes 40 hours, so the first three shifts are entirely regular time and only about 6 hours of the fourth shift earn the premium.
Only if the paid time in the day passes 12 hours. A 7-to-7 shift with a 30-minute unpaid break is 11.5 paid hours, so it tops out at 1.5×. Clock a longer day — or take a paid break that keeps you on the clock past 12 paid hours — and the hours beyond 12 are priced at 2×.
This tool assumes one repeating shift so you can test a rotation pattern quickly. If your days differ — a short Friday, a picked-up Saturday — enter each day separately in the Time Card Calculator or the California Overtime Calculator, which read a full week day by day.
The earliest ones. The calculator fills regular time in day order (Monday first) until 40 hours is reached, and everything after that point in the week is overtime. That is why a 3-shift week of about 36 hours shows no overtime at all, while adding a fourth shift pushes roughly 6–8 hours into the premium.
No. Hospitals and some care facilities may elect the federal '8 and 80' system (overtime after 8 hours in a day or 80 hours in a 14-day period), but neither mode here applies it — if your employer uses 8 and 80, your split will differ from both options on this page.
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