Travel Nurse Overtime: How to Calculate It When Part of Your Pay Is a Stipend

A travel contract lists a taxable hourly rate and a weekly stipend for housing and meals. You pick up a fourth 12-hour shift, so the week is 48 hours. The overtime line on the stub looks smaller than you expected. Was it figured on the hourly rate alone, or on everything in the package?

Both happen, and the difference for one week can be around a hundred dollars. The answer turns on one question in federal overtime law: what is each payment, in fact?

The rule: overtime is half the regular rate, and the regular rate counts all pay for work

For an hourly, non-exempt employee, federal overtime is time-and-a-half the regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek (DOL Fact Sheet #23). The regular rate is not simply the number printed as "hourly rate" on the contract. Under 29 CFR § 778.109, it is your total pay for employment in the workweek (except payments the law specifically excludes) divided by the hours you actually worked.

Two regulations decide how a stipend is treated:

1. § 778.108: the regular rate can't be settled by what the parties call it. It is drawn from what actually happens under the employment arrangement. A label such as "stipend" or "blended rate" doesn't decide anything by itself.
2. § 778.217: payments that reimburse expenses you incur for your employer, including living expenses while traveling away from home on the employer's business, are left out of the regular rate, but only the actual or reasonably approximate amount of the expense. Under paragraph (c)(1), if a "reimbursement" is disproportionately large, the excess is included in the regular rate. Paragraph (c)(2) treats an amount as reasonable when it is at or below the federal per diem rates that apply to that expense.

So there are two cases, and the stub should match one of them:

• The stipend is a genuine expense reimbursement (reasonably tied to lodging and meal costs). It stays out of the regular rate, and overtime is half of the taxable rate.
• The stipend works as pay for hours worked (or part of it exceeds a reasonable amount). It goes into the regular rate, and overtime is half of a higher number.

Which case applies to a given contract depends on its terms and on facts a blog post can't see. The arithmetic below shows what each case produces.

Worked week: a 48-hour week both ways

A travel RN has a contract with a $30.00 taxable hourly rate and a $1,200 weekly stipend. She works four 12-hour shifts: 48 hours, so 8 hours over 40.

Case A: the stipend is a reimbursement, so the regular rate is $30.

• Straight time: 48 × $30 = $1,440
• Overtime premium: 8 × ($30 × 0.5) = 8 × $15 = $120
• Taxable wages: $1,440 + $120 = $1,560
• Plus the stipend: $1,560 + $1,200 = $2,760 for the week

Case B: the stipend counts as pay for the work, so it goes into the regular rate.

• Total pay for the week before the overtime premium: $1,440 + $1,200 = $2,640
• Regular rate: $2,640 ÷ 48 = $55.00
• Overtime premium: 8 × ($55.00 × 0.5) = 8 × $27.50 = $220
• Total: $2,640 + $220 = $2,860 for the week

The gap is $220 − $120 = $100 in one week, which is why the question is worth asking before you accept extra shifts. Over a 13-week contract of similar weeks it would be $1,300, and that assumes weeks that look exactly like this one.

For comparison, a standard 36-hour week (three 12s) has no weekly overtime, so both cases give the same total: 36 × $30 = $1,080 plus $1,200 = $2,280. The question only appears once you cross the overtime line.

What nudges a stipend toward reimbursement or toward pay

These are signals to ask about, not legal conclusions.

• Does it track the expense or track the hours? A housing allowance that shrinks when you miss shifts, or is paid only if you hit a minimum number of hours, behaves like pay for hours. A payment tied to having housing costs behaves like reimbursement. Ask the recruiter in writing how the stipend changes in a week you work less than your guaranteed hours.
• Is it reasonable for the location? Paragraph (c)(2) of § 778.217 gives a safe reading when the amount is at or below the federal per diem rate for that type of expense. Above it, § 778.217(c)(3) says that alone does not make the amount unreasonable; it is judged on the facts.
• Is it spelled out by category? Separate housing and meals-and-incidentals lines are easier to match to expenses than one lump "weekly stipend."
• What does the overtime clause say? Some contracts promise an overtime rate that is higher than the federal minimum, such as a stated overtime hourly figure. That contract number controls if it pays more.

Where your pay can still differ

• State daily overtime. Some states, California among them, require overtime after 8 hours in a day, which turns a 3 × 12 contract into overtime every week. See 12-hour shifts and daily overtime.
• 8-and-80 employers. Some hospitals use a two-week period (overtime after 8 hours a day or 80 in 14 days) if there is a prior agreement. Whether it applies to an agency-employed traveler depends on who the employer is and what the agreement says. See the 8/80 rule.
• Two pay rates in one week. If the hospital's differentials or a second rate apply on some shifts, the regular rate is a weighted average. See overtime with two pay rates and shift differential vs. overtime.
• Bonuses. A completion or sign-on bonus that is promised in advance may also belong in the regular rate. See non-discretionary bonuses and overtime.
• Tax treatment is a separate question. Whether a stipend is taxed is decided by tax rules, not by the overtime rules above, and the two can differ. For that, ask a tax professional.

What to check before you accept the extra shift

1. Write down the three numbers: taxable hourly rate, weekly stipend, guaranteed hours.
2. Ask how overtime is figured: on the taxable rate only, on a stated overtime rate, or on everything paid for the week.
3. Ask how the stipend changes in a short week or a week with a cancelled shift.
4. Compute both cases with the steps above, then compare with the stub. If the stub matches neither and the contract is silent, ask the payroll contact for the pay-code breakdown.
5. Keep a note of your hours per workweek. The workweek definition decides which week a night shift that crosses the boundary falls in; see employer-designated workweeks.

This is general information on federal rules, not legal or tax advice. Your contract, your employer's classification of the stipend, and your state's law decide your actual pay.

Counting hours per workweek is easier when the shifts are on a calendar. Duty Pals, a shift calendar for Android, is free on Google Play, and the free shift pattern calculator on this site lays a rotation against real dates so you can see how many hours fall in each workweek.