Time Card Calculator

Fill in a clock-in time, a clock-out time, and any unpaid break for each day of the week, and the calculator totals every day and the whole week in both hours-and-minutes (37:30) and decimal hours (37.50) — the format payroll software and invoices expect. Add an hourly rate and it splits the week into regular, overtime, and double-time hours and works out gross pay.

Times go in the way you would scribble them on a paper card: 9, 9am, 9:30 AM, 0930, 17:45, or 5:45p all work, and each one tidies itself into a consistent format when you move to the next box. A bare 5 after a 9 o'clock start is read as 5 PM, so "9 to 5" is an eight-hour day rather than a twenty-hour one. When the clock-out is earlier than the clock-in — a 10 PM to 6:30 AM night shift — the shift simply runs past midnight. Anything the calculator can't read is flagged right under that day instead of silently producing a wrong total.

Each day can also carry a second in/out pair for split shifts (a restaurant lunch and dinner, or a morning and an evening route); the two segments are added together and the break comes off the total.

Overtime rules

• US federal (FLSA) — hours over 40 in the workweek are paid at 1.5×. There is no daily overtime, so four 10-hour days are 40 regular hours.
• California — over 8 hours in a day (up to 12) at 1.5× and over 12 at 2×; over 40 straight-time hours in the week at 1.5×; and on the seventh consecutive day of the workweek, the first 8 hours at 1.5× and anything beyond at 2×. Hours already paid as daily overtime aren't counted again toward the weekly 40, which is where many hand calculations go wrong.
• No overtime — a straight total, for contractors and anyone who only needs hours.

The week start day is in Options, and it matters: overtime is measured over the fixed workweek your employer defines, and California's seventh-day rule applies to the last day of that week.

Rounding

Many time clocks round punches, and so can this one — to the nearest 5, 6 (a tenth of an hour), or 15 minutes. Rounding is applied to each punch, the way payroll systems do it, not to the daily total. At 15 minutes that is the familiar 7-minute rule: 8:07 rounds to 8:00, and 8:08 rounds to 8:15.

Common uses

• Total a week of clock-in and clock-out times before submitting a timesheet
• Check that a paycheck paid the right overtime, especially under California's daily rules
• Convert hours and minutes to decimal hours for an invoice or payroll entry
• Log split shifts or overnight shifts that simple hour calculators get wrong
• Export the week as CSV for a spreadsheet, or copy a plain-text summary into an email to a manager

Example

Mon–Fri 8:00 AM – 6:30 PM, 30 min lunch
$20/hour, US federal overtime

50:00 (50.00 h)
Regular 40.00 h · Overtime 10.00 h
Gross pay $1,100.00

Each day is 10 hours after lunch. Under California rules the result is the same here — 2 hours of daily overtime a day — but three 13-hour days would earn 12 hours of overtime and 3 of double time in California and none at all under federal law.

Minutes to decimal hours

Payroll works in decimal hours, so 7 hours 45 minutes is entered as 7.75, not 7.45. Divide the minutes by 60: 15 minutes is 0.25, 20 minutes is 0.33, 30 minutes is 0.5, and 45 minutes is 0.75. The converter under the timesheet does this in either direction, with a reference table for every 5 minutes.

Limitations

• It calculates one workweek at a time. Overtime never carries between weeks, so total each week separately.
• California is the only state whose daily overtime is modelled. Alaska, Nevada, and Colorado have their own daily rules, and some industries (healthcare 8/80 schedules, alternative workweek agreements, agriculture) follow different ones.
• Pay is gross pay at a single hourly rate. The legal "regular rate" for overtime also folds in shift differentials, commissions, and non-discretionary bonuses, and taxes and deductions aren't taken out.
• It doesn't decide who is exempt from overtime — salaried exempt employees and independent contractors generally aren't owed it. Treat the result as a check, not legal or payroll advice.

How do I calculate hours worked on a time card?

For each day, subtract the clock-in time from the clock-out time, then subtract any unpaid break. 8:30 AM to 5:15 PM is 8 hours 45 minutes; minus a 30-minute lunch that's 8:15, or 8.25 decimal hours. Add the days for the weekly total. If the shift crosses midnight, add 24 hours to the clock-out before subtracting — this calculator does both automatically.

How do I convert minutes to decimal hours?

Divide the minutes by 60 and add the result to the whole hours. 7 hours 45 minutes is 7 + 45 ÷ 60 = 7.75 hours; 8 hours 20 minutes is 8.33. Common values: 15 minutes = 0.25, 30 = 0.5, 45 = 0.75, 6 minutes = 0.1. A frequent mistake is writing 7:45 as 7.45, which underpays by 18 minutes.

How is overtime calculated under federal law?

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires 1.5× the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek (29 U.S.C. § 207). It's strictly weekly: a 12-hour day doesn't earn federal overtime if the week stays at or under 40 hours, and hours can't be averaged across two weeks. At $20 an hour, a 45-hour week pays 40 × $20 + 5 × $30 = $950.

How does California overtime work?

California Labor Code § 510 adds daily rules to the weekly one: hours over 8 in a workday are paid at 1.5× and hours over 12 at 2×. Straight-time hours over 40 in the week are paid at 1.5×, without counting hours already paid as daily overtime. On the seventh consecutive day worked in a workweek, the first 8 hours are paid at 1.5× and anything over 8 at 2×.

How do I calculate hours for an overnight shift?

Enter the clock-in and clock-out as they happened — 10 PM and 6:30 AM, for example. Because the clock-out is earlier than the clock-in, the calculator treats it as the next morning and counts 8 hours 30 minutes. Enter the shift on the day it started so it counts toward that day's and that week's totals.

Is it legal to round time clock punches to 15 minutes?

Under federal rules, yes, if it's neutral — rounding to the nearest 5, 6, or 15 minutes is allowed when it averages out so employees are fully paid over time (29 CFR 785.48(b)). Always rounding in the employer's favour isn't. California is stricter: its Supreme Court barred rounding of meal-period punches in Donohue v. AMN Services (2021), and many employers there now pay exact minutes.

Should breaks be subtracted from my hours?

Only unpaid meal breaks. Under federal rules, a bona fide meal period — usually 30 minutes or more, completely relieved of duty — can be unpaid, but short rest breaks of 5 to 20 minutes count as hours worked (29 CFR 785.18–785.19). Enter only the unpaid time in the break column.

Is my timesheet saved or sent anywhere?

No. Every calculation runs in your browser and nothing you type is uploaded. That also means nothing is stored: reloading the page clears the week, so copy the summary or download the CSV to keep a record.