Overtime arises three ways: a long day, a long week, and a rest day worked. Almost every sheet counts only the first. This one adds the rest day to the daily basis and pays that or the weekly basis, whichever is more favourable.
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. Pay goes in three parts: basic and dearness allowance, any other allowance that is wages, such as a special allowance, and the excluded pay. Wages, the one-half add-back and the overtime rate work themselves out.
Hours under Monday to Sunday, and how many fell on the rest day. Rest-day hours go on top of the daily basis, the higher of that and the weekly basis is paid, and a note says which applied. Still on paper timesheets? The time card calculator totals a week of punches first.
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 drawing wages of 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, and rule 6(2) allows the work only with a substituted rest day. 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. Those hours are owed on top of any long day, so the file adds those rest-day hours to the daily basis, pays that or the weekly basis, whichever is higher, and puts a line on the summary showing what the weekly basis and the rest-day rule added between them. Ten hours Monday to Friday and six on the rest day is sixteen hours of overtime, not ten. If that summary line 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 | Better of the two | ₹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) pays the rest day worked on top of the daily basis. 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 all pay except a listed set of exclusions: basic pay, dearness allowance, retaining allowance and any allowance not on the list, a special allowance included. House rent allowance and conveyance are on the list, and overtime allowance is expressly excluded. Then read the first proviso, because on most Indian salary structures it bites: where the excluded items come to more than half of all remuneration, the excess is added back into wages. A basic that is a third of gross does not give you a base that is a third of gross. The same definition decides what an encashed leave day is worth, so a sheet that has this wrong usually has that wrong too.
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 lets the appropriate Government prescribe a total. 125 hours in three months is Maharashtra's, under section 15 of its Shops Act, for ten or more workers. The OSH (Central) Rules set 144 a quarter in rule 69(4), which on our reading reaches only dock, mine and construction work. Use the figure that binds you, not one copied from somewhere else.
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 05-Nov-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, across manufacturing, corporate offices, hospitality, retail and education. It reads overtime off the same attendance record that runs payroll, so the hours and the pay cannot disagree. See what it does, or browse every free HR template.
Hours from attendance, both bases applied, the register filled as it goes.
