Prevailing wage overtime calculator: the right rate, with fringe on every hour

How the overtime rate is computed

On a Davis-Bacon job the wage has 2 parts: a basic hourly rate and a fringe rate, both printed on the wage determination. Overtime is 1.5 times the basic hourly rate only. The fringe is paid at its plain hourly amount on every hour worked, straight or overtime. That is 29 CFR 5.32, and it is the same whether the fringe goes to a plan or into the paycheck as cash.

So on a $42.15 basic and $18.40 fringe determination, an overtime hour paid all in cash is $63.23 in wages plus $18.40 in fringe, $81.63 total. It is not 1.5 × $60.55, which would be $90.83.

When overtime starts

After 40 hours in the workweek, counting every job the worker did that week, this project included. The Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act requires it on covered contracts over $100,000; the Fair Labor Standards Act requires it for most workers on any contract. The calculator splits the week at the 40th hour the way the WH-347 does: the day the 41st hour falls is the first day with time on the overtime line.

Daily overtime is not a federal rule. Some states require it on their own public works, California after 8 hours in a day for example, and some union agreements do. If your job is under one of those, the state or the agreement controls and this calculator’s weekly split is the floor, not the answer.

The 2 mistakes

The calculator shows both because they are most of the overtime rejections we see. Multiplying the fringe into the overtime rate overpays the worker and confuses the reviewer about which rate you are paying. Leaving fringe off the overtime hours underpays the worker, and the difference is back wages.

Where the figures go on the WH-347

Straight time rate on the top line of column 6A, overtime rate on the bottom line. Fringe credit for the week in 6B, cash fringe for the week in 6C, and the gross for the project in 7A. Column by column.