How We Calculate Hours, Overtime And Pay
This page sets out the rules behind every number on the site, so you can see exactly how a total was reached and where each rule comes from.
Time Is Counted In Whole Minutes
The tool converts every time into minutes and adds the minutes. This avoids the small errors that come from adding decimals such as 7.33 hours.
Hours and decimal hours are shown at the end. A decimal is the minutes divided by 60, rounded to two places, so 7 h 20 m is shown as 7.33.
A Day, A Break And A Night Shift
A day is the time from clock in to clock out, minus any unpaid break. If the end time is earlier than the start, the shift ran past midnight and 24 hours are added to the end.
A night shift is counted on the day it started. A break that crosses midnight is handled the same way.
If you leave lunch empty, the optional automatic deduction takes a set time off any day longer than your limit. Your own lunch entry always overrides it.
Rounding
If you pick a rounding setting, each clock time is rounded to the nearest 5, 6 or 15 minutes before the day is worked out. A halfway time rounds up.
Rounding is applied to punches and not to totals. The working line under each day shows the rounded times.
Employers may round time to the nearest 5 minutes, tenth of an hour or quarter hour, if the rounding averages out over time. Employees must be fully paid for all the time they work. Source: US Dept. of Labor, 29 CFR 785.48. Checked November 2026.
Overtime Is Counted For Each Workweek
Overtime is worked out for each workweek, not each pay period. The workweek is seven days in a row that start on the day you choose.
A week that straddles two pay periods is added up as one week. Each overtime hour is then paid in the period of the day it was worked.
Regular hours are the worked hours that are not overtime or double time. Overtime pay is the premium multiplier applied to the hours over the line.
Overtime Presets And Their Sources
Each preset below is a set of thresholds and multipliers. Pick the one that matches where you work, or use the custom preset to enter your own.
| Preset | What it does | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US federal | Time and a half after 40 hours in a workweek, for covered hourly workers. | US Dept. of Labor |
| California | Time and a half after 8 hours a day or 40 a week, double time after 12 hours a day, and a seventh-day rule. | California Labor Code 510 |
| Alaska | Time and a half after 8 hours a day or 40 a week, for employers with 4 or more employees. | Alaska Dept. of Labor |
| Colorado | Time and a half after 12 hours in a workday or after 40 hours in a week. Colorado also counts 12 consecutive hours, which this tool does not check. | Colorado Dept. of Labor |
| Kentucky | Time and a half after 40 hours a week, and on the seventh day when all seven days of the workweek are worked. The weekly rule does not cover retail store, restaurant, hotel or motel employees, and this tool does not check that. | Kentucky Revised Statutes 337.050 and 337.285 |
| Nevada | Time and a half after 40 hours a week. Also after 8 hours in a day for workers paid under 1.5 times the state minimum wage, unless you agreed to a 4 by 10 hour schedule, which this tool does not check. Some jobs are exempt, such as executive, administrative and professional roles, some drivers and some commission sales work. | Nevada Revised Statutes 608.018 |
| Canada, federally regulated | Time and a half after 8 hours a day or 40 a week. Standard hours drop by 8 for each general holiday in the week, which this tool does not apply. Provinces differ. | Canada.ca |
| United Kingdom | There is no legal overtime premium. Enter the overtime threshold and rate from your contract. | GOV.UK |
| Australia | Overtime is set by your award or agreement. Enter the thresholds and rates it gives you. | Fair Work Ombudsman |
Presets are marked with the date we last checked them against their source. A rule that has not been checked yet is not described as confirmed.
Paid Leave And Holidays
Paid leave is added to pay at your normal rate, but it is not counted as hours worked. It does not count toward the overtime line.
Paid leave is not counted toward overtime, because federal rules only count hours actually worked. Source: US Dept. of Labor, 29 CFR 778.218 and 778.102. Checked November 2026.
Pay
Gross pay is regular hours times your rate, plus overtime and double time hours times their multiplied rates. It is before tax and other deductions.
The no tax on overtime and holiday pay tools use the same hours, and add only the extra step each one describes.
What The Tool Does Not Do
- It does not work out tax, benefits or deductions.
- It does not know your contract. Enter your own thresholds in the custom preset if your agreement differs from the legal rule.
- It does not replace payroll. Use it to check your pay, not to produce it.
Corrections
If a number or rule looks wrong, tell us which page and what you expected. We check each report against the official source and fix the page and the tool together.
Updated November 1, 2026.