How to calculate hours worked
For each day it’s clock-out − clock-in − unpaid break. Clock in at 9:00 a.m., clock out at 5:30 p.m., take a 30-minute lunch, and you’ve worked 8 hours.
This time card calculator does that for every day and adds up the week. Five of those days plus a Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. comes to 44 hours, 4 of them overtime.
Overnight shifts work too: if your clock-out time is earlier than your clock-in time, the calculator assumes you finished the next day. 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. with a 30-minute break is 7.5 hours.
Converting minutes to decimal hours
Payroll multiplies your rate by decimal hours, so minutes have to be divided by 60. That makes 7 hours 45 minutes 7.75 hours, not 7.45.
| Minutes | Decimal hours |
|---|---|
| 15 min | 0.25 |
| 30 min | 0.50 |
| 45 min | 0.75 |
Overtime pay
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires overtime of at least time and a half for hours over 40 in a workweek for non-exempt employees. In the 44-hour example at $20 an hour:
- 40 regular hours × $20 = $800.
- 4 overtime hours × $30 = $120.
- Gross pay for the week: $920.
A few states add daily rules. In California, for example, hours over 8 in a day are paid at 1.5 times and hours over 12 at double time. If that applies to you, change the overtime rate or the threshold to match. To see what your gross pay turns into after taxes, use the paycheck calculator.
Paid and unpaid breaks
Federal law doesn’t require employers to give breaks, but short rest breaks they do give (roughly 5 to 20 minutes) count as paid work time. Only bona fide meal periods, usually 30 minutes or more with no work, can be left unpaid. Enter just the unpaid time in the break column.
Need to count days instead of hours? Try the days between dates calculator.