Times
- All times are counted in whole minutes, so there are no rounding errors when hours are added up.
- You can type 12-hour times (7:30 PM, 7:30pm, 7p) or 24-hour times (19:30, 1930). A time without AM or PM is read as 24-hour, and each field shows how it was read.
- 12:00 AM is midnight and 12:00 PM is noon. 2400 is read as midnight.
Shifts, overnight shifts and breaks
- Hours worked = clock-out time minus clock-in time, minus any unpaid break.
- If the clock-out time is earlier than the clock-in time, the shift is treated as ending the next day (an overnight shift). Its hours count toward the day the shift started.
- Shifts longer than 16 hours get a warning, because they usually mean a missing PM.
- We don't adjust for the night the clocks change for daylight saving time. A shift across that night is one hour off.
- Time clock rounding (for example to the nearest quarter hour) is not applied. Hours are exact to the minute.
Decimal hours
Decimal hours are minutes divided by 60, shown to two decimal places. Halves are rounded up, so 7 minutes (0.1167 hours) shows as 0.12. Totals are always worked out from the exact minutes, not from the rounded daily figures.
Overtime
- The federal rule is the Fair Labor Standards Act: hours worked over 40 in a workweek are paid at at least 1.5 times the regular rate (U.S. Department of Labor, Overtime Pay; 29 CFR 778.105 on the workweek).
- A workweek is a fixed, regular seven-day period. Choose the day your employer's week starts.
- Not every job is covered by overtime law, and some salaried roles are exempt. Some states have their own rules, such as daily overtime in California. This calculator applies only the federal weekly rule for now.
Pay
- Regular pay = regular hours × hourly rate. Overtime pay = overtime hours × 1.5 × hourly rate.
- Each line is worked out exactly and then rounded to the nearest cent, with half a cent rounded up. Gross pay is the sum of the rounded lines. For example, 6.5 overtime hours at $27.75 is $180.375, shown as $180.38.
- Gross pay is before taxes and deductions. It's an estimate for your records, not payroll, legal or tax advice.
Found a wrong number?
If a result looks wrong, we want to know. A contact address for reports is being set up; until then, please check your inputs against the rules above.