time and a half
6
2.6
- noun
:
hora y media
- Time-and-a-half kicks in after an 8-hour day or 48-hour week.
- time and a half for overtime
- time and a half pay
- get time and a half
Examples
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Target pays its employees time-and-a-half to work some holiday hours.
Blog text (32) -
If we run past 40 hours a week, I pay time and a half.
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Workers are paid time and a half for hours worked beyond 8 in a day or 45 in a week.
Blog text (15) -
However, Target employees who work the late-night Thanksgiving shift will be paid time-and-a-half rather than their normal rate.
Blog text (1) -
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 established a forty-hour workweek and a time-and-a-half overtime premium for most employees.
Academic text (2018) -
If workers exceed 40 hours in a week, they will receive time and a half for any additional hours worked.
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On holidays, employees usually earn time and a half their regular pay rate.
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She was pleased to learn that her overtime hours would be compensated at time and a half.
How Much
4
3.7
6
2.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines 'time' with 'and a half', so a learner who knows the words can infer it means one and a half times the usual time/pay (especially given the overtime context). The numeric additive composition ('X and a half' = 1.5 × X) is a common, cross-linguistic pattern and therefore immediately interpretable by a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Time and a half comes from a simple pay image: you get your normal time plus a half extra for working extra hours, like being paid one full hour and another half hour for each overtime hour. So, time and a half means 'one and a half times the regular pay', usually for 'overtime'.