Time card calculator

Pick the rule that covers you and the calculator splits your week into regular time and overtime. The same colours are used everywhere on the page: teal for regular time, magenta for overtime, purple for double time, and gold on each day's line for an unpaid break.

The federal rule

The Fair Labor Standards Act says covered workers must be paid at least one and a half times their regular rate for every hour over 40 in a workweek. It counts by the week only: a 12-hour day is not overtime by itself, and working a Saturday, a Sunday or a holiday is not overtime unless it takes you past 40. Each workweek stands alone, so an employer cannot average a 50-hour week with a 30-hour week.

Source: US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Overtime Pay.

The California rule

California adds daily limits. Hours over 8 in a workday are paid at one and a half times, and hours over 12 at double. On the seventh day of work in a row in one workweek, the first 8 hours are paid at one and a half times and the rest at double. The calculator applies the seventh-day rule when all seven days of your week have hours. An hour that is already overtime under the daily rule is not counted again toward the weekly 40.

Source: California Labor Commissioner's Office: Overtime.

What the calculator does not know

• Whether you are covered. Some jobs are exempt from overtime, including many salaried office jobs and some farm and driving work. If you are paid by the hour, you are usually covered.
• Other states' daily rules. A few states besides California, such as Alaska, Colorado and Nevada, have their own daily overtime rules. They are not in the calculator yet; the federal rule is the floor everywhere.
• Extra pay in your rate. If you earn tips, commissions, bonuses or shift pay, your regular rate for overtime can be higher than your hourly wage. The calculator uses the one hourly rate you enter.
• Your workweek. The week starts on the day your employer's workweek starts. Change the date above to match.

Rules read at their sources on October 11, 2026.

Only take off breaks you are not paid for

Under federal rules, short rest breaks, usually 20 minutes or less, are paid work time and stay in your total. A real meal break, usually 30 minutes or more with no work to do, can be unpaid. If you work through lunch, that time is work: leave it in.

Source: Department of Labor Fact Sheet 22: Hours Worked.

Rounding has to cut both ways

Some time clocks round your punches to the nearest 5, 6 or 15 minutes. Federal rules allow that only if, over time, it does not leave you paid for less than you worked. Set the rounding your employer uses and the page tells you how much it changed your week compared with exact minutes.

Source: 29 CFR 785.48, Use of time clocks.

Paid every two weeks, or twice a month

Choose “Two weeks” as the pay period and enter both weeks. Overtime is still counted one workweek at a time: 50 hours one week and 30 the next is 10 hours of overtime, because federal law does not allow averaging weeks. If you are paid twice a month, the same rule holds; add up each workweek on its own.

Night shifts and split shifts

If you clock out at or before the time you clocked in, the calculator counts the shift as running past midnight: 10:00 pm to 6:00 am is 8 hours, counted on the day the shift began. For a split shift, use “+ shift” to add a second pair of times to the same day.

Free to use on any site. Copy this code into your page and the tool appears there, working exactly as it does here. Please keep the credit line.

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