Overtime arises three ways: a long day, a long week, and a rest day worked. Almost every sheet counts only the first. This one works out all three and pays whichever is more favourable to the worker.
Six samples are filled in, each making a different rule fire once. Delete them and add your own people.
The hours, the multiple and the two divisors, each with the rule it comes from. Change any of them and the whole workbook follows.
One row per person. Put in monthly wages, meaning basic plus dearness allowance, and the daily, hourly and overtime rates work themselves out.
Hours under Monday to Sunday, and how many fell on the rest day. All three bases sit side by side, the highest is paid, and a note says which applied.
The overtime columns of Form IV and Form IX under rule 51, rolled up per person with the establishment header above them.
Totals, what the other two bases added, who worked more than six days, and who did overtime with no consent on record.
Attendo reads attendance and runs payroll from one record, so overtime comes off the punches instead of a sheet.
Section 27 of the OSH Code has one sentence that decides how much overtime is owed, and it is not the part about twice the rate. It is this: the period of overtime work shall be calculated on a daily basis or weekly basis, whichever is more favourable to such worker.
Two calculations, then, and the worker gets the better one. The daily basis counts hours above eight, day by day. The weekly basis counts hours above forty-eight across the week. Most of the time the daily basis gives more, which is why almost every sheet in circulation only does that one and nobody notices. Worth knowing before you rely on it: section 27 is in the OSH Code, which applies to establishments employing ten or more workers, and reaches only people who are workers as that Code defines them. Anyone mainly in a managerial or administrative role is outside it, as is a supervisor earning more than ₹18,000 a month. Twice the rate is the broader rule and comes from section 14 of the Code on Wages instead.
Then somebody works eight hours a day for seven days. No single day passed eight, so the daily basis says there was no overtime at all. The week ran to fifty-six hours against a normal forty-eight, so the weekly basis says eight hours are owed. On the sample wages in this file that is ₹3,200 a daily-only sheet would have shown as zero.
There is a third way overtime arises, and it catches people out for the same reason. Rule 6(4) of the Central Rules pays the rest day worked at the overtime rate, whether or not the day ran past eight or the week past forty-eight. Five ordinary days and four hours on a Sunday is forty-four hours. Neither basis above gives anything, and those four hours are still owed at twice the rate. The file works out all three on every row, pays the highest, and puts a line on the summary showing what the weekly basis and the rest-day rule added between them. If that number is not zero, it is money somebody is owed.
The seventh day is a separate problem from the pay. Section 26(1) does not allow a worker to work more than six days in any one week, and paying overtime does not cure that. The file flags it as a working-hours breach rather than quietly costing it. If you want the registers those hours end up in, there is a free pack of the Form I, IV and IX formats.
Six sample employees, each one built so a different rule fires once and can be checked by hand.
| Employee, and the week | OT, daily basis | OT, weekly basis | OT, rest day | Basis applied | Overtime paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ravi, five nine-hour days (45) | 5 hrs | 0 hrs | 0 hrs | Daily | ₹1,500 |
| Suresh, seven eight-hour days (56) | 0 hrs | 8 hrs | 8 hrs | Weekly | ₹3,200 |
| Nisha, two ten-hour days (48) | 4 hrs | 0 hrs | 0 hrs | Daily | ₹2,000 |
| Meena, rest day worked (44) | 0 hrs | 0 hrs | 4 hrs | Rest day | ₹1,200 |
| Six employees, one week | 21 hrs | 8 hrs | 12 hrs | Highest of each | ₹10,300 |
Not one and a half. Section 14 of the Code on Wages says the overtime rate shall not be less than twice the normal rate of wages, and section 27 of the OSH Code says the same. You may pay more. You may not pay less.
Source: Code on Wages, 2019, section 14; OSH Code 2020, section 27Eight hours make a normal working day where the wage period is daily. Where it is not, the hours are fixed so the week does not pass forty-eight. Both numbers matter, because overtime is counted against each of them.
Source: Code on Wages (Central) Rules 2026, rule 5, G.S.R. 343(E), 8 May 2026Rule 3(2) divides a day's rate by eight to fix the hour and multiplies by twenty-six to fix the month. So monthly wages over 26, then over 8. That rule is about the minimum rate; using it on an actual salary is settled practice, which is why both divisors are settings you can change.
Source: Code on Wages (Central) Rules 2026, rule 3(2)Section 27 asks for the daily basis or the weekly basis, whichever is more favourable to the worker, and rule 6(4) adds the rest day worked on top of both. Doing only the daily one underpays anybody whose days were ordinary but whose week was long, and everybody who came in on their day off.
Rule 3(2) multiplies a day's rate by twenty-six to fix the month, so the daily rate comes back out by dividing by 26. Using 30 makes every hour cheaper than it should be, by about thirteen per cent.
The base is wages under section 2(y), which is basic plus dearness allowance and retaining allowance. House rent allowance and conveyance are not in it, and overtime allowance is expressly excluded.
The first proviso to section 27 makes overtime subject to the consent of the worker. A roster somebody was told about is not the same as consent recorded against the week it applied to.
Section 27 says the appropriate Government may prescribe a total number of overtime hours. The 125 figure comes from draft central rules. Until your government notifies one, there is no ceiling to point at.
Section 26(1) does not allow a worker to work more than six days in any one week. That is a working-hours breach. Overtime pay is the wrong remedy, because the problem is the day, not the money.
Usually written once, years ago
Read from the gazettes on 06-Aug-2026
The template is free and works on its own. Attendo does the same arithmetic from attendance you already collect.
Attendo, formerly Petpooja Payroll, is payroll and attendance software used by more than 40,000 businesses in India. It reads overtime off the same attendance record that runs payroll, so the hours and the pay cannot disagree.
Hours from attendance, both bases applied, the register filled as it goes.
