Double Time Pay
What double time pay is, when California requires it, whether holiday pay is double time, how to calculate it, and how agencies should bill those hours.September 25, 2026
5 min read
Payroll
Written by the NextCrew team
Definition
Double time pay is twice an employee's regular rate of pay for certain hours. Federal law never requires it; the FLSA requires time and a half after 40 hours in a workweek. Double time comes from state law, most notably California, or from an employer policy or contract, such as holiday pay.
Double time is where overtime math gets expensive and where billing mistakes cost the most. A staffing agency that pays double time and bills the client straight time, or even time and a half, loses money on every one of those hours. It has to be recognized on the timesheet and matched on the invoice.
When is double time required?
In California, double time is owed for hours over 12 in a workday, and for hours over 8 on the seventh consecutive day worked in a workweek. Time and a half covers hours over 8 in a day, over 40 in a week, and the first 8 hours on that seventh day. Most other states follow the federal weekly rule and have no double-time requirement, though some employers pay it by policy or union contract.
| Rule | Time and a half (1.5×) | Double time (2×) |
|---|---|---|
| Federal (FLSA) | Hours over 40 in a workweek | Not required |
| California: daily | Hours over 8, up to 12, in a workday | Hours over 12 in a workday |
| California: seventh consecutive day | First 8 hours | Hours over 8 |
| Holidays | Not required by law | Only if policy or contract says so |
How do you calculate double time pay?
Double time = regular rate × 2 × double-time hours. The regular rate includes more than the base hourly rate: nondiscretionary bonuses and shift differentials usually count, which raises both the overtime and the double-time rate.
Illustrative example: a Crew Member in California earning $20.00 an hour works a 14-hour day. 8 hours at $20.00 = $160.00. 4 hours at $30.00 = $120.00. 2 hours at $40.00 = $80.00. The day pays $360.00. The same 14 hours in a state with only a weekly overtime rule, in a week under 40 hours, pays $280.00.
Illustrative numbers. Check the current rules and rates for the state where the work is performed.
Is holiday pay double time?
Not by law. No federal law requires extra pay for working on a holiday, and most states do not either. Holiday premiums, whether time and a half or double time, come from employer policy, union agreements or the client contract. For an agency the question is whether the client agreed to pay the premium in the bill rate; if it did not, the agency pays it out of margin.
What does double time mean for staffing agency billing?
Bill overtime and double time at a matching multiple of the bill rate. If the agency pays twice the pay rate, the client should be billed at an agreed double-time bill rate. Billing overtime hours at the straight-time rate is one of the fastest ways to turn a profitable account into a losing one; the markup page shows the arithmetic.
- Put the multipliers in the contract. Overtime and double-time bill rates, and which holidays carry a premium.
- Watch the seventh day. Crew Members working multiple clients can hit a seventh consecutive day without any one client noticing.
- Know where the work happens. The rule that applies is the one for where the Crew Member works, not where the agency is headquartered.
Bottom line: double time is a state-law and contract question, not a federal one. Know which of your Crew Members work where it applies, and bill it at a matching rate.
How NextCrew handles double time
- Calculated on every timesheet. Overtime is calculated automatically based on the agency's jurisdiction and overtime policy configuration: daily overtime, weekly overtime and double time, applied by each Crew Member's location.
- Pay codes with bill rates. Pay codes such as regular, overtime and holiday each carry their own bill rates and overtime rules.
- Holiday schedule. A company holiday schedule with client-level overrides drives holiday pay and billing automatically, with a default 1.5× markup.
- Overtime in view. The overtime dashboard shows whether one client or one Crew Member is generating it.
See timesheet management software and staffing invoicing software.
Frequently asked questions
Related terms
- Markup: the percentage on top of pay, and why overtime hours need their own bill rate.
- Bill rate: what the client pays per hour.
- Shift differential: extra pay that raises the regular rate used for overtime.
- On-call pay: pay for time spent available to work.
- Time clock rounding: how punch times become payable, and overtime, hours.
- Holiday pay: premium pay for working a holiday, set by policy rather than federal law.
General information, not legal advice. Overtime and double-time rules vary by state.