Check overtime, night and weekend allowances with a worked-pay example in PayCheck AI

Why test allowances in a pay-check calendar

Shift patterns, multiple multipliers and differing thresholds for overtime (daily vs weekly) mean small schedule changes can change gross pay noticeably. Testing your roster in a calendar-based tool helps you catch surprises before a real payslip arrives.

PayCheck AI lets you build a shift calendar (individual shifts, presets, or day-based rotations), track regular and overtime hours, estimate gross pay and export CSV — and during an active Pro trial/subscription you can enable daily and weekly overtime thresholds, automatic night-window allowances, weekend allowances and public-holiday allowances as flat amounts, per-hour amounts or percentages. Use these inputs to preview how pay lines add up for a given month.

Step-by-step: configure pay rules during a Pro trial/subscription

1) Start or confirm an active Pro trial or Pro subscription in PayCheck AI. The extra pay-rule settings are only available with Pro privileges.

2) Open your personal shift calendar and either create shifts manually, import a rotation preset, or upload a rota PDF/image for one-time AI extraction and approve shifts before import.

3) Set your base hourly rate in personal pay settings.

4) Configure daily overtime: enter the threshold hours per day after which overtime applies (for example, 8 hours/day). Choose overtime as a multiplier (e.g., 1.5×) or as a custom per-hour amount if your agreement uses a fixed premium. Note: PayCheck AI lets you set daily overtime thresholds and how they apply, but treat multipliers and amounts as inputs for the estimation rather than legal advice or payroll instruction.

Continue pay-rule setup

5) Configure weekly overtime: set the weekly threshold (for example, 40 hours/week) and the overtime method (multiplier or per-hour premium) to have the app mark hours above that threshold as weekly overtime.

6) Configure night-window allowances: set the night window (for example, 22:00–05:00) and choose whether the allowance is a flat amount per shift, a per-hour rate, or a percentage premium. PayCheck AI will apply that rule automatically to shift hours inside the window.

7) Configure weekend allowance: define which days count as weekend (Saturday–Sunday or as your agreement requires) and choose flat, per-hour or percentage allowances for those days.

8) Configure public-holiday allowances if needed (flat, per-hour, or percentage) and mark specific calendar dates as public holidays in the month you’re testing if they apply.

Worked-pay example: clear, repeatable scenario

Below is a simple, fully hypothetical scenario you can recreate exactly in PayCheck AI to see how lines add up. Treat every rate and multiplier here as an example — check your enterprise or national award for real numbers.

Settings template to copy into PayCheck AI during your Pro trial/subscription:

- Base hourly rate: $25.00/hr (example only).

- Daily overtime threshold: 8 hours/day; daily overtime multiplier: 1.5× for hours beyond 8/day (i.e., overtime hourly rate = $37.50). Apply daily overtime before weekly overtime bookkeeping as relevant to your rules of thumb when testing scenarios manually, but ensure you understand how your agreement stacks daily and weekly overtime in reality (this varies by agreement). PayCheck AI will label hours according to the thresholds you set so you can review totals by type in the monthly estimate output.)

Continue the worked example settings

- Weekly overtime threshold: 40 hours/week; weekly overtime multiplier: 1.75× for hours beyond 40/week (i.e., $43.75/hr in this example).

- Night window: 22:00–05:00; night allowance: $5.00 per hour inside the window.

- Weekend allowance: Saturday and Sunday; weekend allowance: 25% premium (i.e., multiply base or base+overtime? For the test below treat the premium as applying to base and overtime hours proportionally — PayCheck AI will show calculated allowance amounts based on the per-hour or percentage method you choose).

- Public holidays: none in the test month.

Monthly roster (repeatable)

Create this roster in PayCheck AI for any four-week month to test the settings above:

- Week structure (repeat for 4 weeks):

- Monday: 09:00–17:00 (8 hours)

- Tuesday: 09:00–17:00 (8 hours) + overtime 17:00–20:00 (3 hours) — daily overtime applies for the 3 hours after 8/day, and those hours may also contribute to weekly overtime threshold; single shift spans do not cross the night window here.)

Roster continued

- Wednesday: 22:00–06:00 (8 hours crossing the night window; 22:00–05:00 counts as 7 night hours; last hour outside window).

- Thursday: 09:00–17:00 (8 hours)

- Friday: 09:00–17:00 (8 hours)

- Saturday: 13:00–21:00 (8 hours — weekend premium applies for all hours on this day).

Practical checklist

• Activate a Pro trial or confirm Pro subscription in PayCheck AI.
• Set base hourly rate in personal pay settings.
• Enter daily and weekly overtime thresholds and multipliers or per-hour premiums.
• Define night window and choose allowance type (flat/per-hour/percentage).
• Define weekend days and allowance type.
• Build the month’s roster in the PayCheck AI calendar (manual, preset rotation, or rota upload + AI extraction).
• Review the monthly estimate and export CSV if you want to inspect each pay line.
• If available, upload a payslip for one-time AI extraction to compare with the calendar month estimate.

Frequently asked questions

How does PayCheck AI report overtime and allowances?

PayCheck AI labels hours in your calendar according to the daily and weekly thresholds and any night or weekend windows you configure. It shows estimated totals for regular hours, overtime hours and allowance amounts in the monthly estimate, and you can export a CSV of those lines to review the calculations. These are estimates based on the inputs you provide.

Will this replace my official payslip or payroll?

No. PayCheck AI estimates gross pay from the shifts and pay-rule inputs you enter. It does not calculate taxes, guarantee legal or payroll accuracy, or import directly into payroll software. Always check final payslips from your employer or payroll provider for authoritative figures.

My agreement stacks daily and weekly overtime differently — can I model that?

PayCheck AI lets you set both daily and weekly thresholds. How daily and weekly overtime combine depends on your employment agreement or award and may require manual interpretation when comparing totals. Use the app’s labeling and exported CSV to help you reconcile stacking rules, but confirm stacking rules with your employer or union.

Can I compare an actual payslip with my calendar estimate?

Yes — during a Pro trial or subscription you can upload a payslip for one-time AI extraction and compare its gross pay with the selected calendar month after reviewing the figures. Treat this as a comparison tool rather than a legal audit.

Can I share the test calendar with a manager or payroll?

You can create a private read-only calendar subscription (Google, Apple or Outlook) that refreshes from PayCheck AI. That subscription is one-way (read-only) and will not let external calendars edit your PayCheck AI data.