When you pay a bonus to hourly employees who worked overtime, U.S. labor law generally requires that bonus to be factored into their overtime rate. ShareWillow handles this for you automatically with Bonus-Adjusted Overtime: a calculated overtime premium that's added on top of the bonus, using your company's state overtime rules.
Before you start
Bonus-adjusted overtime is only calculated when both of the following are true:
Your company state is set in Company Settings. This determines which overtime rules apply (for example, California daily overtime vs. federal weekly overtime).
The plan you're distributing uses KPI rules that track regular hours and overtime hours. Plans without those rules will not show an overtime row.
Setting your company state
Go to Company Settings.
Select your state from the dropdown.
Save your changes.
If you start a distribution review on an eligible plan and your state isn't set yet, ShareWillow shows a prompt asking you to choose one before continuing. Once you save the state, the review picks up where you left off — no need to restart.
How it appears in a distribution review
Open the plan you want to distribute and start a new review.
Step through to the award breakdown. Expand any employee row.
Below their KPI rule rows, you'll see a Bonus-Adjusted OT row with:
A state-rule badge (for example, CA daily OT).
The additional amount owed, aligned with the other amount columns.
A chevron to expand the calculation.
Click the chevron to see the math: base pay, effective rate (bonus applied), overtime premium, and any overtime already paid.
The employee's header total and the Total payout this period at the top of the page both include the overtime premium.
Continue to Confirm. The per-employee row totals and the plan-level total there also include the overtime premium.
Where overtime premium appears after you confirm
Payout details page — each employee's breakdown shows a Bonus-Adjusted Overtime row alongside their KPI rule rows, with the same expandable math. The header total and the Total payout on the right include the premium.
Plan payouts grid and drawer — the overtime calculation is shown inline anywhere a payout breakdown is displayed.
Employee awards view — totals across the employee's awards include the premium.
How the premium is calculated
The breakdown panel shows the same four-line calculation everywhere it appears:
Base pay — regular hours plus overtime hours at the employee's hourly rate.
Effective rate — what the employee's hourly rate becomes once the bonus is added to base pay and re-averaged across hours worked.
Overtime premium — the additional half-time (or full-time, depending on state rules) owed on the overtime hours at the effective rate.
Already paid — any overtime premium that has already been issued for this period, subtracted out.
The remainder is the additional amount ShareWillow adds to the bonus payout.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't I see a Bonus-Adjusted OT row for my plan?
The row only appears for plans that track regular and overtime hours. If your plan uses different KPI rules, no overtime premium is calculated and the row is hidden.
I got a prompt to set my company state — why?
Overtime rules vary by state, so ShareWillow needs to know your state before it can calculate the correct premium. Set your state in Company Settings and the review will continue automatically.
I changed our state. Will past payouts recalculate?
No. The state at the time of a payout is what applies to that payout. New distributions will use the updated state going forward.
Why is the overtime amount different from a previous period?
The premium is recalculated each period based on that period's hours, hourly rate, and bonus amount. Larger bonuses, more overtime hours, or a different effective rate will change the premium.