Time Card Calculator guide
Fill in clock-in and clock-out times for each day, subtract unpaid breaks, and get the week's hours in decimal and hours:minutes, overtime and gross pay. Overnight shifts and punch rounding are handled, and the card prints cleanly.
How a time card is actually totaled
Every line on a time card is the same three-step sum: clock-out time minus clock-in time, minus any unpaid break. A 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM shift is 8 hours 30 minutes on the clock. Take off a 30-minute unpaid lunch and the worker is paid for 8 hours. Add the seven days together and you have the week.
The trap is that clock times are base-60 and payroll is base-10. You cannot add 7:45 and 8:30 like decimals and get 16.15. The correct total is 16 hours 15 minutes, which is 16.25 decimal hours. This calculator keeps everything in minutes internally and shows both formats side by side, so the number you type into payroll software is the right one.
Converting minutes to decimal hours
Divide the minutes by 60. That is it. 15 minutes = 0.25, 30 minutes = 0.50, 45 minutes = 0.75, 20 minutes = 0.33, 50 minutes = 0.83. So 7 hours 45 minutes is 7.75 hours, and at $20 an hour that line pays $155.00.
Where people go wrong is typing 7.45 for 7 hours 45 minutes. That underpays by 0.30 hours, which is $6 at $20 an hour. Do that on every shift for a year and a full-time worker loses about $1,500 (250 shifts × $6). It is the single most common time card error, and the reason decimal and clock formats should never be mixed on one sheet.
Worked example: a normal week with one late night
Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 17:30 with a 30-minute lunch: 8.00 hours each, 32.00 total. Friday, 9:00 to 19:15 with a 30-minute lunch: 10 hours 15 minutes on the clock minus 30 minutes = 9 hours 45 minutes, or 9.75 decimal hours. Week total: 41.75 hours.
At $20 an hour with federal overtime: 40 regular hours × $20 = $800, plus 1.75 overtime hours × $30 = $52.50. Gross pay is $852.50. Turn on the California-style daily rule and Friday's 1.75 hours past 8 become daily overtime instead; straight-time hours drop to exactly 40, so gross pay is still $852.50 this week. Change Friday to a 13-hour day and the difference appears, because the hour past 12 pays double.
Breaks: which ones you subtract
Under federal rules, short rest breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes are paid time and must not be deducted. Only a bona fide meal period, usually 30 minutes or longer, where the worker is fully relieved of duty, can be unpaid. If someone eats at their desk while answering the phone, that lunch is work time.
So in the break column, enter only unpaid meal time. Leave coffee breaks out. Several states go further: California requires a 30-minute meal period before the end of the fifth hour and a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours, with an extra hour of pay owed when a break is missed.
Rounding punches: legal, if it is neutral
The Department of Labor allows employers to round clock times to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth of an hour (6 minutes), or quarter hour, as long as the policy averages out so employees are fully paid over time. The common quarter-hour version is the '7-minute rule': 1 to 7 minutes rounds down, 8 to 14 rounds up. Clocking in at 8:07 counts as 8:00; 8:08 counts as 8:15.
Rounding that only ever goes the employer's way is illegal, and California courts have grown skeptical of rounding altogether when the system records exact minutes. If your time clock already captures exact punches, paying exact minutes is the safest choice. The rounding menu above lets you see what a rounding policy does to a real week before you adopt one.
Overnight shifts and records to keep
A shift from 10:00 PM to 6:30 AM crosses midnight. Enter 22:00 in and 06:30 out on the day the shift started; the calculator sees that clock-out is earlier than clock-in and adds 24 hours, giving 8.5 hours before breaks.
Employers must keep payroll records for non-exempt workers, including hours worked each day and each workweek, for at least three years, and the time cards themselves for two. Print this page to PDF each week or copy the plain-text summary into your records. If you pay a regular salary instead of hourly, the hourly salary calculator converts between the two, and the overtime calculator handles bonuses that raise the overtime rate.
How we calculate: sources
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate hours worked on a time card?
Subtract clock-in time from clock-out time, then subtract any unpaid break. 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM is 8 hours 30 minutes; minus a 30-minute lunch, that is 8 hours.
How do I convert minutes to decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60. 15 minutes is 0.25, 30 is 0.50, 45 is 0.75. So 7 hours 45 minutes is 7.75 hours, not 7.45.
Should breaks be deducted from my hours?
Only unpaid meal periods, usually 30 minutes or more with no work duties. Under federal rules, short rest breaks of 5 to 20 minutes are paid time and should not be subtracted.
How do I enter an overnight shift?
Enter it on the day it started, for example 22:00 in and 06:30 out. When clock-out is earlier than clock-in, the calculator treats it as the next day.
Is rounding time punches legal?
Federal rules allow rounding to the nearest 5, 6 or 15 minutes if it averages out fairly over time. Rounding that always favors the employer is not allowed.
Can I print or save the time card?
Yes. Use Print time card to print or save as PDF, or copy a plain-text summary. Your entries also stay saved in this browser.
Is my timesheet uploaded?
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded to a server or stored by us.