Question 1

How do I calculate hours worked from a time card?

Accepted Answer

Subtract your clock-in from your clock-out time, then subtract any unpaid break. A 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM shift is 8 hours 30 minutes of span; with a 30-minute lunch that is 8.00 hours worked. To get the decimal format payroll uses, divide the minutes by 60 - 30 minutes is 0.50 and 45 minutes is 0.75 - so 7 hours 45 minutes becomes 7.75 hours. This calculator does that conversion for every day of the week automatically, including shifts that cross midnight.

Question 2

How does weekly overtime work on a time card?

Accepted Answer

Under the federal FLSA, every hour past 40 in a single workweek is overtime at 1.5x your regular rate. A workweek is a fixed, recurring 168-hour period defined by your employer - it is not the same as a pay period. If you work 42.5 hours in one week and 37.5 in the next, you are owed 2.5 overtime hours for the first week; your employer cannot average the two weeks to zero them out. Only police, firefighters, hospitals, and a few other narrow categories may use special alternative work periods.

Question 3

Does California count overtime differently?

Accepted Answer

Yes. California is the main exception to the federal weekly rule: hours over 8 in a single day are paid at 1.5x, hours over 12 in a day at 2x, and the seventh consecutive workday carries its own premiums. So in California you can earn overtime in a week under 40 total hours. This calculator applies the federal weekly threshold (over 40 at 1.5x) that every other state and most payroll systems follow; if you are in California, also check each day against the 8-hour and 12-hour marks.

Question 4

Should unpaid breaks be deducted from my hours?

Accepted Answer

Bona fide meal periods - typically 30 minutes or more where you are fully relieved of duty - can be unpaid, and that is what the break field subtracts. But under federal law, short rest breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes must be paid; they count as hours worked and even count toward overtime. This card defaults to a 30-minute unpaid break per day. If your employer pays your lunch or your breaks are short, set the break to 0 so nothing is deducted.

Question 5

How do overnight or graveyard shifts work?

Accepted Answer

When clock-out is earlier than clock-in, the calculator treats the shift as crossing midnight and adds 24 hours to the end time. A 22:00 to 06:00 shift is 8.00 hours; an 18:00 to 02:00 shift with a 30-minute break is 7.50 hours. Overnight work follows the same weekly overtime bucket as day shifts - it all lands in the same workweek, and hours past 40 are overtime regardless of what time of day they were worked. Some industries pay a shift differential on top, which you would add separately.

Question 6

How do I turn my weekly hours into gross pay?

Accepted Answer

Take the decimal hours, split them at the 40-hour line, and multiply: regular hours at your rate, overtime hours at 1.5 times your rate. At $20.00/hour, a 37.50-hour week is 37.50 x $20.00 = $750.00. A 42.50-hour week is 40 x $20.00 = $800.00 regular plus 2.50 x $30.00 = $75.00 overtime, so $875.00. That is exactly what the weekly gross figure shows. For what actually lands in your bank account after taxes and withholding, take the gross result to a paycheck calculator.

Question 7

Is overtime calculated per week or per paycheck?

Accepted Answer

Per workweek - always. The FLSA requires overtime for hours over 40 in a single workweek, and a workweek never spans two weeks. If you are paid biweekly, each paycheck contains two separate workweeks, and each week stands on its own for overtime purposes. A 45-hour week followed by a 35-hour week means 5 overtime hours owed, not zero - averaging across weeks is one of the most common (and expensive) wage-law mistakes small employers make. This calculator totals one Monday-to-Sunday week at a time, so each run maps cleanly onto a single workweek.

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