Time Card Calculator
A time card calculator computes hours worked per day from clock-in and clock-out times, deducts unpaid meal breaks, and applies federal and state overtime rules to estimate gross pay before taxes. This calculator follows the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for weekly overtime, with optional daily-OT overlays for California, Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon. Results are computed entirely in your browser — nothing leaves your device. Built for hourly employees, payroll auditors, and small-business owners who want a transparent calculation trail they can print and hand to payroll.
Methodology based on DOL Fact Sheet #23 and the California DLSE Overtime FAQ.
Time Card Entry
No daily-OT rule — only weekly OT after 40h.
FLSA-permitted under 29 CFR 785.48(b) if neutral.
This Week
| Day | Start (HH:MM) | End (HH:MM) | Break (min) | Paid leave? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | ||||
| Tuesday | ||||
| Wednesday | ||||
| Thursday | ||||
| Friday | ||||
| Saturday | ||||
| Sunday |
How a Time Card Calculator Works
durationMinutes(start, end, break) =
end >= start ? (end - start) - break : (end + 24:00 - start) - break
grossPay = regular*rate + ot*rate*1.5 + doubleTime*rate*2The calculator follows three sequential rules that come straight from the FLSA and state daily-OT statutes:
- Compute each day’s duration. Parse the start and end times to minutes since midnight, subtract any unpaid break minutes, and add 24 hours when the end time is earlier than the start (overnight shift). Apply the optional rounding step before subtraction.
- Apply state daily OT first. California splits each day into 8 hours regular, hours 8-12 at 1.5x, and hours over 12 at 2x. Alaska / Nevada use 8-hour daily thresholds; Colorado uses 12; Oregon manufacturing uses 10. Federal-only mode skips this step entirely.
- Apply federal weekly OT to remaining regular hours. Sum each day’s "regular" hours across the workweek. If the sum exceeds 40 hours, the excess is paid at 1.5x the regular rate per FLSA §7(a)(1). Hours already counted as daily OT are NOT counted again — same hour cannot be paid twice.
Worked numerical example: 5 × 9 schedule
Suppose you work Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM with a 60-minute unpaid lunch each day, at $18.00 per hour, federal-only mode:
- Each day: 9 hours on the clock minus 1 hour break = 8 hours worked.
- Weekly total: 8 hours × 5 days = 40 hours.
- 40 hours is the federal OT threshold — no overtime is owed.
- Gross pay = 40 × $18.00 = $720.00.
This matches Reference Case 1 verified against the DOL elaws Overtime Calculator Advisor.
Worked Examples
Retail associate — 5 × 9 schedule, federal only
Inputs: Mon-Fri 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, 60 min unpaid lunch, $18.00/hr.
Output: 40.00 regular hours, 0 OT, $720.00 gross.
Hitting exactly 40 hours means no FLSA overtime is triggered. Lunch deductions are why a 9-hour on-clock day yields only 8 paid hours.
Restaurant cook — 6 × 8, weekly OT trigger
Inputs: Tue-Sun 11:00 AM to 7:30 PM, 30 min break, $19.50/hr, federal.
Output: 40 reg ($780) + 8 OT ($234) = $1,014.00 gross.
A 6th workday automatically pushes you into FLSA OT territory regardless of whether any single day was long.
California warehouse — two long days
Inputs: Mon 14h, Tue 14h (no break), $22.00/hr, California mode.
Output: 16 reg + 8h @1.5x + 4h @2x = $352 + $264 + $176 = $792.00.
California double-time after 12h is why two 14-hour days pay much more than four 7-hour days. Each day splits into 8h / 8-12h / >12h buckets.
Remote contractor — biweekly with cross-week OT
Inputs: Wk1 = 45h (M-Th 10h, F 5h). Wk2 = 40h (M-F 8h). $30/hr, federal.
Output: Wk1: $1,425 (40 reg + 5 OT). Wk2: $1,200. Period gross = $2,625.00.
FLSA forbids averaging weeks across a biweekly period — week 1’s 5 OT hours must be paid at 1.5x even though week 2 was under 40.
Overnight nurse — split shift across midnight
Inputs: M 7 PM to T 7 AM, W 7 PM to Th 7 AM, F 7 PM to Sat 5 AM. 30 min meal each. $32/hr.
Output: 33.0 hours total at straight rate = $1,056.00.
Cross-midnight arithmetic adds 24h when end < start. Hours typically attribute to the shift’s start day for FLSA workweek tracking.
Federal & State Overtime Rules
Under FLSA Section 7(a)(1), non-exempt employees must be paid at 1.5 times their regular rate for any hours worked over 40 in a single workweek (Source: DOL Fact Sheet #23). The 2026 federal salary threshold for executive, administrative, and professional exemptions remains $684/week ($35,568 per year) after the 2024 DOL rule increases were vacated by federal court.
California imposes the strictest daily-OT rule in the country: 1.5x for hours 8-12 in a workday, 2x for hours over 12, plus a 7th-consecutive-day rule that pays 1.5x for the first 8 hours and 2x beyond (Source: California DLSE FAQ).
| Jurisdiction | 1.5x trigger | 2x trigger | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal (FLSA) | >40h/week | None | 29 USC §207(a)(1) |
| California | >8h/day or 7th day | >12h/day or 7th day >8h | CA Labor Code §510 |
| Alaska | >8h/day or 40h/week | None | AS 23.10.060 |
| Nevada | >8h/day (low-wage workers) | None | NRS 608.018 |
| Colorado | >12h/day or 12 consec. | None | 7 CCR 1103-1 (COMPS #38) |
| Oregon (manufacturing) | >10h/day | None | ORS 653.265 |
When both federal weekly OT and a state daily OT rule could trigger, the employer pays whichever produces the higher total — but the same hour can never be counted under both rules. This calculator applies daily OT first, then runs the remaining "regular" hours through the federal 40-hour test, exactly as required by FLSA §7 and DOL Field Operations Handbook §32d.
U.S. Wage & Hour Context
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median hourly wage for all U.S. workers was $24.95 in May 2024, with non-supervisory hourly workers averaging 34.3 hours per week. The federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 per hour since July 2009, though 30 states plus DC set higher state floors as of 2026 (Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division).
The DOL Wage and Hour Division enforces FLSA compliance. In FY2023, WHD recovered $274 million in back wages for over 152,000 workers, with overtime violations representing the single largest category of recoveries. Industries with the highest violation rates include food service, construction, and home healthcare.
For California specifically, the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) reports that wage-theft claims involving daily-OT and double-time underpayment were the most-filed categories in 2024, accounting for roughly one in three Berman-hearing claims. CA also requires meal-period premiums (one extra hour of pay) when a 30-minute meal is missed during a 5-hour shift — a rule not built into this calculator but worth checking with the California DLSE.
The federal recordkeeping rule (29 CFR 516) requires employers to retain time-card records for at least 3 years, and computations of wages for at least 2 years. Employees who suspect underpayment can file a complaint with the DOL WHD or the corresponding state labor department; statute of limitations is 2 years (3 years for willful violations) under the FLSA.
Common Mistakes & Edge Cases
Overnight shifts where end time is earlier than start
A 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM shift has end < start in 24-hour clock terms. Naive subtraction produces -16 hours. The fix is to add 24 hours when end < start. This calculator detects the case automatically; if you enter 22:00 and 06:00 it interprets the shift as 8 hours. Watch for ambiguity if the employee actually worked 10:00 AM to 2:00 AM the next day — split such shifts across two days for clarity.
Midnight notation: 12:00 AM is 00:00, 12:00 PM is noon
Users routinely flip these on a 12-hour clock. This calculator uses 24-hour HH:MM input to eliminate the ambiguity. If your time-tracking software exports 12-hour times, double-check that 12:00 AM has been converted to 00:00 (start of day) and 12:00 PM to 12:00 (noon) before entering values.
Auto-deducted meal breaks the employee actually worked through
DOL Fact Sheet #22 makes clear that a meal period is unpaid only if the employee is fully relieved of duty. A blanket policy of deducting 30 minutes from every shift is not FLSA-compliant when the employee actually ate at their desk while answering calls. This tool requires you to enter the break minutes per day, deliberately surfacing the issue rather than hiding it in a global toggle.
Daily versus weekly OT double-counting
When state daily-OT is enabled, the same hour cannot be paid under both daily and weekly OT. The calculator applies daily OT first, then checks whether remaining regular hours plus prior days exceed 40 — only the excess gets weekly-OT treatment. Audit the per-day breakdown to confirm hour 41 is paid once, not twice. This is exactly how DOL Field Operations Handbook §32d resolves the question.
Rounding bias toward the employer (illegal)
FLSA permits rounding only if it is neutral over time. Always-round-down (8:07 → 8:00) is fine for that one punch but the cumulative effect must not systematically underpay. Default to no rounding; if you enable a rounding step, expect round-up and round-down events to balance over time. Federal courts have ruled against employers whose rounding favored them more than 55% of the time (See's Candy Shops v. Superior Court).
Multiple pay rates in the same workweek (blended rate)
When an employee works two jobs at different rates ($15/hr cashier 25h, $20/hr keyholder 18h = 43h total), federal OT is owed on hours 41-43 at 1.5x the WEIGHTED-AVERAGE rate, not 1.5x the rate of whichever job hour 41 happened to fall in. This is the FLSA "regular rate of pay" rule (29 CFR 778.115). Almost no consumer time-card calculator implements it — verify by hand or with the DOL elaws Advisor.
PTO and holiday hours don’t count toward overtime
FLSA OT is triggered by hours WORKED, not paid time off. If you took 8 hours PTO Monday and worked 38 hours Tuesday through Friday, total paid hours = 46 but OT hours = 0. Use the "Paid leave" toggle in this calculator to mark such days; their hours are paid at straight rate but excluded from the 40-hour weekly OT trigger.
Related Concepts
Hourly paycheck calculator — once you know hours worked, the next step is computing net (after-tax) take-home pay, which adds federal income tax withholding, FICA (7.65%), and any state income tax. The IRS publishes withholding tables in Publication 15-T.
Overtime calculator — a focused tool just for OT math (regular rate of pay, blended rate, daily versus weekly), useful for employees verifying a paycheck after the fact rather than entering shifts. See our income tax calculator for the next step after determining gross.
Biweekly pay calculator — converts an hourly rate plus average weekly hours into a biweekly gross figure for budgeting; complements the time card’s per-period totals. Note that FLSA OT calculations always run per workweek, never averaged across the biweekly period.
Salary-to-hourly converter — answers the inverse question for salaried employees considering an hourly job offer; depends on the same 2,080 hours/year baseline FLSA uses ($684/week × 52 weeks).
State minimum wage — verifies the user’s effective hourly rate (after tips/deductions) clears the state minimum, which is a legal floor under the FLSA’s "regular rate." Some states (Washington, New York, California) have higher minimums than the $7.25 federal floor.
Federal vs California — 14-Hour Day at $22/hr
| Bucket | Federal-only (no daily OT) | California |
|---|---|---|
| Regular (1x) | 14h × $22 = $308 | 8h × $22 = $176 |
| Time-and-a-half (1.5x) | 0 | 4h × $33 = $132 |
| Double-time (2x) | 0 | 2h × $44 = $88 |
| Day total | $308.00 | $396.00 |
Note: federal-only result assumes the 14h is a single workday under 40h/week cumulative — pure straight-time. The CA worker takes home $88 more for the same 14 hours due to daily-OT and double-time premiums.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do unpaid lunch breaks get subtracted from my time card?
Yes. Under the FLSA, meal periods of 30 minutes or longer are unpaid only if the employee is fully relieved of duty (DOL Fact Sheet #22). Short rest breaks of 5 to 20 minutes must be paid and counted as hours worked. If you ate at your desk while answering emails, that meal counts as paid work time and should not be deducted from your time card.
How is overtime calculated for a workweek that crosses two pay periods?
The FLSA requires overtime to be calculated per workweek, not per pay period. If you work 50 hours in week 1 and 30 hours in week 2 of a biweekly period, your employer must pay 10 hours at 1.5x in that paycheck (DOL Fact Sheet #23). Employers cannot average the 80 total hours across the two weeks to avoid overtime — each workweek stands alone.
Can my employer round my time card to the nearest 15 minutes?
Yes, but only if the rounding is neutral over time. The "7-minute rule" rounds clock-ins and clock-outs to the nearest quarter hour: 7 minutes or fewer rounds down, 8 minutes or more rounds up. The FLSA (29 CFR 785.48(b)) forbids systematic round-down practices that consistently underpay employees. Federal courts have ruled against employers whose rounding favored them more than half the time.
What overtime rules apply in California?
California uses both federal weekly OT (1.5x after 40 hours per week) and state daily OT (1.5x for hours 8 through 12, and 2x for hours over 12 in a single workday) per DLSE rules. On the 7th consecutive workday in a workweek, the first 8 hours are paid at 1.5x and any additional hours that day are paid at 2x. Same hour cannot be counted under both rules — the employer pays whichever produces the higher amount.
Is the FLSA salary threshold for overtime exemption $684/week in 2026?
Yes. The federal minimum salary to qualify for executive, administrative, and professional exemptions remains $684 per week ($35,568 per year) in 2026, after the 2024 DOL rule increases were vacated by federal court. Some states (CA, NY, WA) impose higher thresholds; the higher of the two governs. Salaried employees below the threshold are still entitled to overtime under the FLSA.
How do I calculate overtime if I work two different jobs at different rates?
This is the FLSA "regular rate of pay" rule (29 CFR 778.115). Add up all your earnings for the week, divide by total hours worked to get the blended regular rate, then any hours over 40 must be paid at 1.5x that blended rate — not at 1.5x the rate of whichever job hour 41 happened to fall in. Most calculators skip this; verify the math by hand or with the DOL elaws Overtime Calculator Advisor.
Do paid time off (PTO), holidays, or sick days count toward overtime?
No. FLSA overtime is triggered by hours worked, not hours paid. If you take 8 hours PTO Monday and work 36 hours Tuesday through Friday, your paycheck shows 44 hours paid but your OT eligibility is based on 36 worked hours — no overtime is owed. Some union contracts treat holiday hours as worked, but federal law does not. Mark paid-leave days explicitly in this calculator so they are excluded from OT.
How do overnight shifts get reported on a time card?
Enter the actual start and end clock times (e.g. 22:00 and 06:00). When the calculator detects that the end time is earlier than the start time, it adds 24 hours to compute the duration correctly. Shift hours are typically attributed to the workday on which the shift started — a Monday 10 PM to Tuesday 6 AM shift counts as Monday’s 8 hours for FLSA workweek-tracking purposes. Confirm your employer’s policy if the workweek boundary matters.
What records does my employer have to keep about my time?
Per FLSA recordkeeping rules (29 CFR 516), employers must retain hours worked each day, total hours each workweek, the regular hourly rate, total straight-time and overtime earnings, deductions, and pay-period dates. Records must be kept for at least 3 years. Employees can request copies if a wage dispute arises, and the DOL Wage and Hour Division can investigate complaints.
Is there a federal limit on how many hours my employer can schedule me?
No. The FLSA caps neither hours per day nor hours per week for employees age 16 and over. Your employer can schedule 60+ hour weeks legally; they just have to pay 1.5x the regular rate for everything over 40 hours in a workweek. Different rules apply to minors under 16 and to certain regulated industries (truck drivers, airline crew, railroad workers). Some states impose meal-break or rest-break rules, but federal law does not cap total hours.
Authoritative Sources
- U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet #23: Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA
Official federal definition of overtime, regular-rate calculation, and the workweek standalone rule.
- U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet #22: Hours Worked Under the FLSA
What counts as compensable time including breaks, meal periods, on-call time, and travel.
- U.S. Department of Labor — elaws Overtime Calculator Advisor
The federal government’s own reference calculator we test our outputs against.
- California DIR / Division of Labor Standards Enforcement — Overtime FAQ
Strictest state OT rules in the U.S.; sets daily 8h/12h thresholds and the 7th-consecutive-day rule.
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management — How to Compute FLSA Overtime Pay
Federal-employee version with worked examples of regular-rate computation.
- University of Alabama at Birmingham HR — 7-Minute Rounding Rule Quick Guide
Academic-grade reference on FLSA-permitted rounding under 29 CFR 785.48(b).
Disclaimer
This calculator estimates U.S. wage-and-hour math based on the FLSA and commonly-cited state daily-OT rules; it is not legal or tax advice. Results do not include FICA (Social Security and Medicare), federal/state income tax withholding, local payroll taxes, union pay differentials, prevailing-wage requirements, or collective-bargaining premiums. For a binding determination of wages owed, consult a qualified payroll professional or contact the DOL Wage and Hour Division or your state labor department. All calculations are performed locally in your browser; no data leaves the page.
Reviewed by Kalcify Editorial Team · Last updated
Reviewed in-house against official tax authority publications, WHO classifications, and primary regulatory sources. We update calculators when underlying rates or rules change.
Published by Kalcify · Data verified against official sources · Learn more about our methodology
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