Work Hours Calculator

Hours worked for one shift are the time between clock-in and clock-out minus any unpaid breaks:

Hours worked = end time − start time − unpaid breaks

The subtraction is easiest in 24-hour time, because AM and PM drop out. Both examples end with the decimal figure that payroll multiplies by the hourly rate.

Example 1: 8:15 AM to 5:40 PM with a 45-minute lunch

1. Convert to 24-hour time: 8:15 AM = 08:15, 5:40 PM = 17:40.
2. Subtract: 17:40 − 08:15 = 9 hours 25 minutes.
3. Deduct the unpaid lunch: 9:25 − 0:45 = 8 hours 40 minutes.
4. Convert to decimal: 40 ÷ 60 = 0.67, so 8:40 = 8.67 hours.

Example 2: 6:50 AM to 3:20 PM with a 30-minute lunch

1. 24-hour time: 06:50 to 15:20.
2. Subtract hours and minutes separately: 15 − 6 = 9 hours, 20 − 50 = −30 minutes. Borrow one hour: 8 hours 30 minutes.
3. Deduct the break: 8:30 − 0:30 = 8 hours 0 minutes = 8.00 hours.

8 hours 40 minutes is 8.67 hours, not 8.40; writing 8.40 shorts the employee by 16 minutes a day. The minutes to decimal chart lists every minute from 1 to 60.

Whether a break counts as hours worked depends on where you work and how long the break is. Every break you enter is treated as unpaid; do not enter breaks your employer pays.

A lunch spent at the desk answering calls is not a bona fide meal period under the FLSA and counts as work time. If that describes your lunch, enter zero break minutes.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees receive 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek (29 U.S.C. 207(a)(1)). The workweek is a fixed, recurring period of 168 hours and need not match the calendar week. Federal law has no daily overtime, so a 12-hour day in a 36-hour week earns no premium.

California adds daily overtime under Labor Code 510: 1.5 times for hours over 8 in a workday, 2 times for hours over 12, and on the seventh consecutive day of a workweek 1.5 times for the first 8 hours and 2 times beyond that. Hours already paid as daily overtime are not counted again toward the 40-hour weekly threshold (no pyramiding).

Worked week at $20 per hour

Week A pays 40 × $20 + 4 × $30 = $920 under either rule. Week B pays $720 under the FLSA but $600 + 6 × $30 = $780 in California. The overtime calculator applies both rule sets. The United Kingdom has no statutory overtime premium; only the contract decides.

Decimal hours = minutes ÷ 60. Payroll normally keeps two decimals. This table covers 5-minute steps; the full chart covers every minute.

Only 15, 30 and 45 minutes convert exactly. Every other value is rounded, so add hours and minutes first and convert the total once.

Federal regulation 29 CFR 785.48(b) accepts time clock rounding to the nearest 5 minutes, one-tenth of an hour (6 minutes) or one-quarter of an hour (15 minutes), provided the practice does not, over a period of time, fail to compensate employees for all the time they actually worked. Rounding must be neutral: it has to go both ways.

With quarter-hour rounding this becomes the 7-minute rule: a punch 1 to 7 minutes past the quarter hour rounds down, 8 to 14 minutes past rounds up. 8:07 AM becomes 8:00, 8:08 AM becomes 8:15. Paragraph (a) of the same regulation adds that an employee who voluntarily clocks in early but does not start working need not be paid for the idle time.

The calculator does not round by default; it shows exact minutes so that rounding, if your employer uses it, is a visible separate step. In California, rounding is risky: Donohue v. AMN Services (2021) barred rounding of meal period punches, and the broader question in Camp v. Home Depot is before the state Supreme Court. Paying to the minute is the safe practice there. Rounding tables are in the 7-minute rule guide.

When the end time is earlier than the start time, the shift crossed midnight. Add 24 hours to the end time before subtracting. A shift from 10:00 PM to 6:30 AM (22:00 to 06:30) is 30:30 − 22:00 = 8 hours 30 minutes; with a 30-minute unpaid meal that is 8.00 hours. The calculator detects this automatically.

Most employers assign an overnight shift to the day it started. Apply one rule consistently, because a shift straddling the end of the workweek can move hours into the next week and change the overtime result.

Split shifts, such as 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM and again 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, are two separate blocks. Enter each as its own row. The gap between them is off-duty time, not a break, and the day total is the sum of the blocks: 8 hours here.

Times typed without AM or PM, such as 8 to 5, are read with a PM end when both values are 12 or less and the end would otherwise fall before the start. Check the 24-hour display when a result looks off.

Add daily hours in hh:mm, then convert the total once. A week of 8:40, 8:00, 8:15, 8:40 and 7:50 is 41 hours 25 minutes = 41.42 hours. In a biweekly pay period, keep the two workweeks separate: 44 hours in week one and 36 in week two is 4 overtime hours, not zero, because the FLSA threshold applies to each workweek on its own.

173.33 hours a month is an average: 52 weeks ÷ 12 = 4.33 weeks per month, times 40 hours. Real months have 20 to 23 workdays, so actual monthly hours differ. Use the average for salary conversions and the actual count for hourly pay. More on the work hours in a year page.

• Treating 8.40 as 8 hours 40 minutes. 8:40 is 8.67 hours.
• Mixing up AM and PM. 12:00 AM is midnight and 12:00 PM is noon. A shift entered as 9:00 AM to 5:00 AM returns 20 hours, not 8.
• Forgetting to add 24 hours on night shifts. 23:00 to 07:00 is 8 hours, not −16.
• Deducting paid breaks. Short rest breaks are hours worked under 29 CFR 785.18. Deduct only meal periods during which you were completely relieved of duty.
• Rounding each day and then adding. Five days of 7:50 add to 39:10 = 39.17 hours; five rounded 7.83 values add to 39.15.
• Averaging two workweeks in a biweekly period. Federal overtime is evaluated per workweek, never per pay period.
• Counting California daily overtime twice. Hours paid at daily overtime are excluded from the weekly 40.