Enter clock-in, clock-out, and break times for each workday to total your weekly hours — with the regular-vs-overtime split done automatically.
A time card is just five small subtractions and one addition, but most people never verify theirs. For each day: clock-out minus clock-in gives the shift length, minus unpaid break gives hours worked. Monday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM with 30 minutes for lunch is 8 hours minus 0.5, or 7.5 hours. Do that five times, add them up, and you have your week.
The step everyone skips is the last one: comparing the total to the pay stub. Payroll software is usually right, but schedules change, managers edit entries, and missed punches get estimated. A two-minute weekly check with this calculator is the cheapest insurance your paycheck has. If the numbers disagree, you now have a dated, specific discrepancy to raise instead of a vague feeling.
Keep your own records too. Screenshot your schedule and your submitted times every week and keep them at least three years — that is how far back federal wage claims can reach. Your employer's system is not your backup; it is the thing you are checking against.
Not all breaks are equal. Unpaid meal breaks (typically 30 minutes) come off your hours — you are off the clock and free to leave. Short paid rest breaks (usually 10–20 minutes) count as hours worked and stay on your time. The legal test is freedom: if you cannot leave or must remain on call, the break may count as work time regardless of what it is called.
This distinction is where real money hides. A worker on five 8.5-hour shifts with an unpaid 30-minute lunch works 40 hours, not 42.5. But if that 'lunch' is spent answering the register because no coverage exists, those 2.5 hours a week are work — 130 hours a year of unpaid labor. State laws vary on meal-break requirements, and some states are stricter than federal rules.
When in doubt, track reality, not labels. Enter the break you actually took, free and clear, not the break on paper. And if your situation involves on-duty meals or missed breaks, your state's labor department website — not internet forums — is the authoritative source for what you are owed.
Overtime is calculated per workweek: a fixed, recurring 168-hour period the employer defines (it does not have to be Monday–Sunday). Hours beyond 40 in that window earn the 1.5× premium for non-exempt workers. The critical point: weeks do not average. A 50-hour week followed by a 30-hour week is 10 overtime hours plus 30 regular — not two clean 40s.
This is why biweekly paychecks confuse people. Your stub shows 80 hours and no overtime line, but inside were a 50 and a 30. Payroll handled it correctly; the stub just does not show the weekly split. Whenever a check looks light, reconstruct each week separately before assuming an error — and our Overtime Calculator will price those overtime hours in dollars once you have them.
One more wrinkle for night shifts: if the employer's defined workweek boundary falls in the middle of your shift, those hours legally split across two weeks. Most employers set the boundary to avoid this, but it is worth knowing the rule exists — it is the rare case where identical shifts in identical weeks can produce different overtime results.
Many employers round clock times — commonly to the nearest 15 minutes — and federal rules permit it only if the rounding is neutral over time. A system that always rounds down is not rounding; it is wage theft with extra steps. The gold standard is exact-to-the-minute tracking, which is what this calculator uses and what you should compare against.
Missed punches are the other classic. When you forget to clock in, someone — you, your manager, or payroll — estimates the time. Estimates drift, usually against you, a few minutes at a time. Make it a habit to check the estimate the same day while you still remember the real time; corrections made weeks later are uphill battles.
Finally, know the stakes of the records. Under federal law, employers must keep payroll records for three years, and you can file a wage claim going back two (three for willful violations). Your own contemporaneous notes — a photo of the schedule, a text to yourself with your hours — are the evidence that wins those claims. Five minutes a week of record-keeping is the highest-paid work you will ever do if it ever matters.
Each day's hours are the shift length minus unpaid break time. Add the days for the weekly total; the first 40 hours are regular time and anything beyond is overtime for non-exempt workers.
A standard office week: Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a 30-minute unpaid lunch. Each day is 7.5 hours, so the week totals 37.5 hours — all regular time, no overtime. This is the most common full-time pattern in the US.
A retail week with a long Saturday: four 8-hour days plus a 10-hour Saturday (9:00 AM–7:00 PM, no break) totals 42 hours. The first 40 are regular; the extra 2 are overtime hours, typically paid at 1.5× the regular rate for non-exempt workers.
A night-shift week: 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM, five nights, no break. The calculator handles the midnight crossover automatically — each shift is 8 hours, totaling 40 hours exactly. Overnight workers should double-check that their employer's defined workweek does not split a shift across two weeks.
Add up (clock-out minus clock-in minus unpaid break) for each day. A 9-to-5 with a 30-minute lunch is 7.5 hours per day, 37.5 per week. The calculator above does the arithmetic including overnight shifts.
No. Unpaid meal breaks are off the clock and subtracted from your hours. Paid rest breaks (usually 10–15 minutes) count as hours worked. If your employer requires you to stay on duty or on call during lunch, that time may legally count as work — check your state's rules.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime is based on a fixed 7-day workweek (any 168 consecutive hours the employer defines), not the calendar week or the pay period. Two 50-hour weeks do not average with two 30-hour weeks — each week stands alone.
Enter the actual times; the calculator adds 24 hours when clock-out is earlier than clock-in, so 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM correctly computes as 8 hours. One caution: if your employer's workweek boundary falls mid-shift, those hours may legally split across two weeks.
Many US employers round to the nearest quarter hour, and federal rules allow it only if the rounding averages out fairly over time — it cannot systematically favor the employer. The strictest approach is exact minute tracking, which is what this calculator does.
Compare your records against your pay stub every period. Reconstruct each week separately (overtime is weekly), confirm breaks were deducted correctly, and check that every shift appears. Keep your own copies — screenshots of schedules and time entries — for at least three years.