How a Time Card Works
Totalling hours worked involves three steps per day: find the elapsed time between clock-in and clock-out, subtract unpaid breaks, then sum the days. The arithmetic is trivial; the errors come from the units. Time is base 60, and treating 7 hours 45 minutes as "7.45" instead of 7.75 costs 18 minutes per shift.
Hours worked = (clock-out − clock-in − unpaid break) ÷ 60
Minutes to Decimal Hours
Payroll systems work in decimal hours because they multiply cleanly by an hourly rate.
| Min | Decimal | Min | Decimal | Min | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 0.08 | 25 | 0.42 | 45 | 0.75 |
| 10 | 0.17 | 30 | 0.50 | 50 | 0.83 |
| 15 | 0.25 | 35 | 0.58 | 55 | 0.92 |
| 20 | 0.33 | 40 | 0.67 | 60 | 1.00 |
Overtime Rules (United States)
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires non-exempt employees to be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours beyond 40 in a workweek. Several points are frequently misunderstood:
- The workweek is fixed. It is a recurring 168-hour period the employer defines; overtime is computed within it, not across an averaged fortnight.
- There is no federal daily overtime. Ten hours on Monday is not overtime unless the week exceeds 40. California, Alaska, Nevada and a few others do require it after 8 hours in a day.
- Paid leave does not count toward 40. Holiday and vacation hours are paid but are not hours worked, so a week with 8 hours of holiday and 36 worked has no overtime.
- The regular rate is not just the base wage. Non-discretionary bonuses and shift differentials must be included when calculating the overtime rate.
- Exempt employees — executive, administrative and professional staff paid on a salary basis above a threshold — are not entitled to overtime.
| Weekly hours | Regular | Overtime | Gross at $25/hr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 35 | 0 | $875.00 |
| 40 | 40 | 0 | $1,000.00 |
| 45 | 40 | 5 | $1,187.50 |
| 50 | 40 | 10 | $1,375.00 |
| 60 | 40 | 20 | $1,750.00 |
Breaks
Under federal rules, short breaks of 5 to 20 minutes are compensable and count as hours worked. Bona fide meal periods, normally 30 minutes or more during which the employee is fully relieved of duty, are not. An employee who eats at their desk while still answering calls is working, and that time is payable.
Many states impose their own requirements — California mandates a 30-minute unpaid meal break before the end of the fifth hour and paid 10-minute rest breaks per four hours worked. Enter only genuinely unpaid breaks in the calculator.
Rounding Practices
Employers may round clock times, most commonly to the nearest quarter hour (the "7-minute rule": 7 minutes or less rounds down, 8 or more rounds up). This is lawful only if the rounding is neutral over time — a policy that always rounds in the employer's favour is not. This calculator uses exact minutes; apply any rounding policy afterwards.
Overnight and Split Shifts
When the clock-out time is earlier than the clock-in, the calculator treats the shift as crossing midnight and adds 24 hours — so 22:00 to 06:00 is 8 hours. For a split shift with a long unpaid gap in the middle, enter the gap as the break.
Annual Hours
| Schedule | Hours per week | Hours per year |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time standard | 40 | 2,080 |
| Full-time, 2 weeks leave | 40 | 2,000 |
| Full-time, 10 holidays + 15 vacation days | 40 | 1,880 |
| Four-day week | 32 | 1,664 |
| Part-time | 20 | 1,040 |
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I enter times?
HH:MM in 24-hour form, or with am/pm. Both 17:30 and 5:30 pm work. Leave both boxes blank for a day not worked.
Does the calculator handle overnight shifts?
Yes. If the end time is earlier than the start, it assumes the shift crossed midnight.
Is overtime calculated daily or weekly?
Weekly, matching federal law. If your state requires daily overtime, calculate those days separately.
Is this gross or net pay?
Gross — before income tax, Social Security, Medicare and any deductions. Expect 20–35% to be withheld from a typical U.S. paycheck.