How many hours did you work this week?
Enter each day, get the total hours, overtime and pay instantly.
An end time earlier than the start counts as the next day. Overtime: hours over 40 a week at 1.5×.
How do I calculate hours on a time card?
For each day, subtract the start time from the end time and take off unpaid breaks, then add the days. Five days of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a 30 minute lunch are 8.5 hours each, 42.5 hours for the week.
How is overtime calculated?
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, covered non-exempt employees earn at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. 42.5 hours at $20 an hour: 40 × $20 = $800 plus 2.5 × $30 = $75, or $875.
Do some states count overtime by the day?
Yes. California, for example, requires overtime for hours over 8 in a workday as well as over 40 in a week. This calculator uses the federal 40-hour weekly rule; check your state's labor department for daily rules.
How do I convert minutes to decimal hours for payroll?
Divide the minutes by 60: 15 minutes is 0.25 hours, 30 is 0.5 and 45 is 0.75. 8 hours 20 minutes is 8.33 hours. The calculator shows every day in decimal hours.
Can an employer round time punches?
Federal rules allow rounding to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth of an hour or quarter hour, as long as it averages out and does not, over time, cut the hours employees actually worked (29 CFR 785.48).
How is an overnight shift counted?
If the end time on the clock is earlier than the start time, the calculator treats the shift as running past midnight. A shift from 10:00 PM to 6:30 AM with a 30 minute unpaid break is 8.00 hours, and all of it counts on the day it started. Whether hours after midnight fall in the next workday for overtime purposes depends on how your employer defines the workweek.
Is a lunch break paid?
Under the federal rules, short rest breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes are paid work time. A bona fide meal period, usually 30 minutes or more, in which the employee is completely relieved from duty, does not have to be paid (29 CFR 785.18 and 785.19). Enter only the unpaid minutes in the break column.
How the totals are worked out
For each day the calculator subtracts the start time from the end time (adding 24 hours when the end is earlier than the start), takes off the unpaid break and converts the result to decimal hours. The days are added to a weekly total. Regular hours are the first 40 and overtime is everything above 40, paid at 1.5 times the hourly rate you enter, following the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The week is treated as one fixed workweek; the Act defines it as a fixed, recurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour periods, which an employer may start on any day (29 CFR 778.105).
Worked example: five weekdays and a Saturday
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a 30 minute break, 8.5 hours each. Wednesday runs to 5:30 PM, 9 hours. Saturday is 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM with no break, 4.5 hours. The week totals 47.50 hours: 40.00 regular and 7.50 overtime. At $22.00 an hour, the regular pay is 40 × $22.00 = $880.00 and the overtime is 7.50 × $33.00 = $247.50, for $1,127.50 before taxes and deductions.
Rounding punches
Many employers round punches to the nearest quarter hour. Federal rules allow rounding to the nearest five minutes, tenth or quarter of an hour if it is applied neutrally, so that over time employees are fully paid for the time worked (29 CFR 785.48). With quarter-hour rounding to the nearest quarter, a punch-in at 7:53 AM would be treated as 8:00 AM, and 7:52 AM as 7:45 AM. The calculator does not round; it uses the exact minutes you enter, so enter the rounded times if that is how your employer pays.
Common mistakes
Subtracting the break twice, or leaving it in when it is paid, changes the total by half an hour a day. Entering times without AM or PM, in the wrong 12-hour half, turns a day into a 12-hour overnight span. Using decimals as minutes (7.5 hours is 7 hours 30 minutes, not 7 hours 50 minutes) is the classic payroll error. The weekly 40-hour threshold also does not apply to exempt employees, and some states, such as California, add daily overtime rules that this calculator does not apply. Finally, an average of two weeks is not allowed to replace the weekly overtime test for most workers.
Sources: Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 207 (overtime after 40 hours at one and one-half times the regular rate); U.S. Department of Labor regulations 29 CFR 778.105 (workweek), 785.18 and 785.19 (rest and meal periods) and 785.48 (rounding). This is general information, not legal or payroll advice. Related: time calculator, overtime calculator and paycheck calculator.