How to calculate hours worked on a time card
- For each day, subtract the start time from the end time.
- Take off unpaid breaks, such as a 30-minute lunch. Short paid breaks stay in.
- Add the days together for the week's total.
- Convert the total to decimal hours for payroll: divide the minutes by 60.
- If the total is over 40 hours, the extra hours are overtime for most hourly employees.
The calculator above does every step at once. The example week is four days of 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM and one day of 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM, each with a 30-minute lunch:
| Day | Shift | Break | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday to Thursday | 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM | 30 min | 8:00 each |
| Friday | 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM | 30 min | 9:00 |
| Week | 41:00 (41.00 h) |
At $20 an hour, that is 40 regular hours (40 × $20 = $800) plus 1 overtime hour at $30, for $830 before taxes.
How overtime is counted
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees must be paid at least one and a half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. See the Department of Labor's overtime page.
- A workweek is any fixed 7-day period of 168 hours. It does not have to run Monday to Sunday; your employer sets when it starts.
- Weeks are not averaged. 45 hours one week and 35 the next still means 5 hours of overtime in the first week.
- Weekends and holidays are not overtime by themselves under federal law. Only the hours over 40 in the week are.
- Some states go further. California, for example, also requires overtime after 8 hours in a day. This calculator applies the federal weekly rule; switch it off if it does not apply to you.
Common time card mistakes
Mixing up AM and PM
A shift from 8:00 to 4:30 entered as 8:00 AM to 4:30 AM turns into an overnight shift of 20 hours 30 minutes. Check any day marked with *.
Subtracting paid breaks
Federal rules treat short breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes as paid work time. Take out only unpaid meal breaks, usually 30 minutes or longer. The time duration calculator explains which breaks count.
Adding hours and minutes as decimals
7:45 plus 8:30 is 16:15, not 15.75. Add the clock times, then convert the total with the hours to decimal calculator, or let this calculator do it.
Rounding each punch differently
If your employer rounds clock times, the rule has to be applied the same way every time and must not shortchange you over time. See 29 CFR 785.48.
Keeping your own record
Employers must keep records of the hours you work each day and each week (see the Department of Labor's recordkeeping fact sheet), but keeping your own copy makes it easy to check a paycheck. Use Copy link to save this week: the link holds every time you entered. Download CSV opens in Excel or Google Sheets, and Print gives you a paper time card.