Daily overtime or highly hourly?

[ParamedicStudent]

Which is better?

 

[DesertMedic66]

There isn’t a set answer as it’s going to depend on what your pay is for both the daily overtime and the higher hourly pay. If it’s $19/hr vs $21/hr then you will make more per shift at the lower rate with OT assuming a 12 hour shift.

Now if it’s $16/hr vs $21/hr then the higher hourly will make you more per shift.

 

[Akulahawk]

There isn’t a set answer as it’s going to depend on what your pay is for both the daily overtime and the higher hourly pay. If it’s $19/hr vs $21/hr then you will make more per shift at the lower rate with OT assuming a 12 hour shift.

Now if it’s $16/hr vs $21/hr then the higher hourly will make you more per shift.

I mostly agree. It depends upon your base pay, your shift length, if your employer pays OT after a certain number of hours on shift or if you're on "straight time to 40" (which also loops back to shift length) and how many hours you get per week. Way back when, I used to work what would now be considered HUGE hours - 60+ hours per week. We did "straight to 40" so any hours after 40 were paid at an OT rate. It was a very easy thing for me to get 60 (or more) because I'd work a 24 hour shift and either three 12's or another 24 and a 12. Now if you're limited to, say 40 hours per week with very rare opportunity to go past that, then you might do better with a higher base hourly pay with a daily OT. If it's very easy to blow past 40 and ascend into the stratosphere with hours, then you might very easily do better with a lower base pay as most of your paycheck could come from the OT.

Nearly 20 years ago, I was paid slightly more than min wage but my bi-weekly paycheck was usually at least $1100. Today that's meh money but back then it was very decent, and considering that base pay was < $8/hr...

These days my base pay is very, very good but I only work 36 hours/week and OT opportunities per week very much varies. Sometimes I pick up a shift or two, sometimes I don't.

Bottom line is that you really do need to "do the math" and run your scenarios for expected shift length, weekly hours, likelihood of daily OT, and so on. Then... here's the horrible part: you need to consider taxes. Run those scenarios with taxes in mind (for net pay) and you might find out you get more net pay one way vs another.

Base pay (and therefore gross income) is great... but net pay is what you live off of.

 

[RocketMedic]

High hourly pay, all day. This is because time is finite and the more one can get for their time at work, the better. And it is better to take a high wage into OT than a low wage with lots of hours.

 

[DrParasite]

high hourly, no debate.

I can do without daily OT; and if I want OT, I can always pick it up.

I'd rather have more money without working extra hours.

 

[DesertMedic66]

high hourly, no debate.

I can do without daily OT; and if I want OT, I can always pick it up.

I'd rather have more money without working extra hours.

That’s not how daily OT works. For company A you are scheduled for a 12 hour shift with all 12 hours being paid at a standard rate. For company B you are scheduled for a 12 hour shift with 8 hours being paid at the standard rate and 4 hours being paid at the OT rate.

Depending on the specific pay for both companies will determine which one will pay you more.

Company A pays $21/hr with no built in OT. You will make $252 per shift.

Company B pays $19/hr with built in OT. You will make $266 per shift.

 

[DrParasite]

ooooo. I have never worked for a company that offered 12 hour shifts but paid you OT after 8 hours. It's not required by the Dept of Labor; they only require OT after 40 hours in a week. So if I picked up an extra 6 hours, and it was a short week (3 12 hour shifts), I only got 2 hours of OT, and the other 4 was straight time.

In that case, there is no simple answer, because as you said earlier, it all depends on your pay rate.

As a general rule, I would still say go with higher hourly, because then if you pick up an OT shift, it's all time and a half at the higher rate, vs a lower (base) rate at time and a half.

 

[RocketMedic]

It's a West Coast thing. IIRC, only CA and NV, maybe WA do it. Here in Texas, it's OT after 40 and that's only due to federal law.

With that being said, this built-in OT increases the "average" 48 hour workweek from 40 + 8 to 32 + 16, so it's a bit of a difference.

High hourly pay still wins though, because you can take that higher pay rate for the same money for less hours OR rake in more for your precious time.

 

[Akulahawk]

With that being said, this built-in OT increases the "average" 48 hour workweek from 40 + 8 to 32 + 16, so it's a bit of a difference.

High hourly pay still wins though, because you can take that higher pay rate for the same money for less hours OR rake in more for your precious time.

A high(er) hourly pay, when comparing two (or more) jobs that pay hourly may or may not actually pay you more... you really do have to look at how they structure how your working hours. IF you work four 12's and you're 8 straight w/ 4 OT, you very well could end up doing better than that if they recognize that after 40 they pay OT anyway. Under this scheme you're on the clock for 12 every shift. Three 12's plus four gets you to 40 so, your pay could end up looking something like 28 (8+8+8+4) straight and 20 (4+4+4+8) OT.

The point is that you really do have to look at exactly how they calculate the pay and your pay rate to come up with both a daily gross and your weekly/paycheck gross... from which taxes and whatnot will eventually be taken out.

I worked at a place where they had a daily OT and OT for any hours after 40. I worked two 24's and got 8 straight and 16 OT daily. Since all my hours after 40 were paid at an OT rate, it didn't matter... That was for those (very few) folks that did 12's. The base pay was actually reasonably competitive back then, so my paycheck was actually pretty good for the day. That company no longer exists as they were driven out by local market competition and an inability to be flexible enough to deal with it. They died something like 2 years after I left and when I left, the writing was on the wall, just a matter of time before they went under.

 

[Tigger]

My AMR op pays OT for anything over your scheduled shift. So any late call or hold over is paid time and a half, which is great. Hourly rates are based on your shift with lower hours getting a higher rate (ie an 8 hour car gets more per hour than the 12 hour car). Full timers make essentially the same yearly income as a result, despite people being on 40, 42, or 56 hour work weeks. You work fewer hours for the same pay on 8 hour shifts but work more days. You work way more hours on 24s but only work 120 days a year...trade offs.

Part timer's rates are based on 12 hour shifts so if I pick up a 24, I get paid OT for the second 12. That part is rad.

 

[mgr22]

ParamedicStudent, as others have pointed out, there isn't one answer that fits everyone. You could try arithmetic. Just multiply hours by hourly rates in each scenario.

 

[RocketMedic]

Also really, really depends on your state’s tax structure, benefit costs, mandatory contributions and travel expenses.

 

[johnrsemt]

High hourly plus weekly OT; I make about $23 an hour, and work 48 straight off 5 days a week, so an extra 24 hour shift, I take home an extra $500 a shift;
still gives me 4 days off a week.

Bored 4 days a week as it is but everything is 40-90 miles away, 1 way so it isn't like I can just run to town to do things