Hours worked calculator (time card)

Enter a week of start and finish times with breaks. Daily hours, weekly totals, overtime and gross pay come out the other end in the decimal form payroll expects.

What a time card actually has to get right

Three things trip up manual timesheets: converting minutes to decimals, deducting unpaid breaks consistently, and deciding where overtime starts. Each is simple alone. Together, across seven days and four weeks, they produce the discrepancies that show up in payroll disputes.

This calculator handles each day independently, deducts the break you enter, and only applies overtime once the weekly total passes your threshold.

Weekly versus daily overtime

The threshold here is weekly, which matches United States federal law under the Fair Labor Standards Act: over 40 hours in a workweek, at not less than one and a half times the regular rate. Several jurisdictions layer daily overtime on top. California, for example, applies overtime after eight hours in a day and double time after twelve, so a worker can earn overtime in a week under 40 hours.

Approach	Typical trigger	Effect
Weekly	Over 40 h / week	Long days can be offset by short ones
Daily	Over 8 h / day	Each long day pays overtime regardless of the week
Averaging	Over an agreed reference period	Common in the EU and for shift patterns

Because the correct rule depends on where you work and what your contract says, the threshold and multiplier are both yours to set rather than assumed.

Breaks: paid or not

Short rest breaks, typically under 20 minutes, are usually counted as working time and paid. Longer meal breaks are usually unpaid, provided the employee is genuinely relieved of duty. Eating at your desk while answering the phone is generally working time in most legal systems, whatever the schedule calls it.

Enter only the unpaid portion in the break column. Anything you leave in the shift is counted and paid.

Rounding and why it matters

Rounding each entry to the nearest quarter-hour is common and, in the US, lawful only if it is neutral — rounding up as often as down over time. A rule that always rounds the clock-in up and the clock-out down is a wage deduction by another name, and has been litigated as such. This calculator uses exact times and rounds only the display, so what you see is the true total.

Gross is not take-home

The pay figure here is gross: before income tax, social security contributions, pension, health insurance or anything else your employer withholds. Depending on your country and bracket, take-home pay is typically 60–85% of gross. Never budget from the gross figure.

Common questions

How do I add up hours and minutes for a timesheet?

Convert each shift to minutes, add them, then divide by 60 at the end. Adding hours and minutes as separate columns invites base-60 mistakes. This calculator converts internally and reports both the hours-and-minutes form and the decimal form payroll needs.

When does overtime start?

It depends entirely on your jurisdiction and contract. US federal law sets it above 40 hours a week at 1.5×; some US states add daily thresholds; many European countries work from an averaged weekly limit instead. Set the threshold and multiplier here to match your own rules rather than assuming a default.

Should unpaid lunch breaks be subtracted?

Yes, if the break is genuinely unpaid and you are free from duties during it. Enter the unpaid minutes in the break column for each day. Short paid rest breaks should be left in, since they count as working time.

Is the gross pay figure what I will actually receive?

No. It is pay before any deductions. Income tax, social insurance, pension contributions and benefit premiums all come out afterwards, and the amounts depend on your country, filing status and elections. Your payslip or a country-specific payroll tool will give the net figure.