Free weekly time card calculator. Enter your start and end times for each day, add your hourly rate, and instantly see total hours worked, overtime pay (FLSA 40-hour rule), and gross weekly earnings.
Hours worked • Overtime • Gross pay
| DAY | TIME IN | TIME OUT | BREAK | HRS |
|---|
Tracking work hours accurately is a legal requirement for most US employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and a financial necessity for every hourly worker. A time card calculator eliminates the manual math of adding up each day's hours, converting minutes to decimal format, and applying overtime rules correctly. Whether you're an employee verifying your paycheck, a small business owner processing payroll, or a freelancer billing hourly clients, accurate time tracking directly impacts your earnings.
The most common mistake workers make when calculating hours is treating time as base-10 math. Time uses base-60: 30 minutes is 0.5 hours, not 0.3. The correct way to convert: divide minutes by 60. So 8 hours 45 minutes = 8 + (45/60) = 8.75 hours. Similarly, 7 hours 20 minutes = 7 + (20/60) = 7.333... hours. Multiply decimal hours by your hourly rate to get accurate pay. This calculator handles all decimal conversions automatically.
Federal overtime law under the FLSA requires employers to pay non-exempt hourly workers at least 1.5 times their regular rate for all hours over 40 in a single workweek (Sunday through Saturday or any fixed 7-day period the employer designates). In 2025–2026, the FLSA salary threshold for exemption was $684/week ($35,568 annualized) — workers earning above this amount and performing certain duties may be classified as exempt. Most hourly workers are non-exempt and entitled to overtime. Some states have stricter rules: California requires daily overtime (over 8 hours/day), Nevada requires daily OT for some workers, and Colorado has its own thresholds.
Meal and rest breaks matter for time card calculations. Under federal law, paid breaks under 20 minutes must be counted as work time. Bona fide meal breaks of 30 minutes or more may be unpaid, but only if the employee is completely relieved of duties. This calculator includes a "break" column where you can deduct unpaid lunch breaks from each day's total. If your employer automatically deducts 30 minutes per shift whether you take a break or not, and you regularly work through lunch, you may be owed additional wages.
For bi-weekly payroll (the most common pay period in the US, used by 43% of employers per ADP data), weekly hours are important because overtime is calculated per workweek, not per pay period. Even if you work 45 hours one week and 35 the next, you're owed 5 hours of overtime for the first week — the two weeks cannot be averaged together under FLSA rules. This calculator operates on a per-week basis to correctly reflect FLSA overtime entitlements.
Independent contractors and gig workers also benefit from accurate time tracking for business purposes. If you're billing by the hour, a time card ensures you invoice clients accurately. For self-employed workers, hours worked are also relevant for IRS Schedule C deductions if you use a home office or need to allocate time between business and personal use. A regular time card habit creates a paper trail that's invaluable during IRS audits or client payment disputes.
Federal: 1.5× pay for hours over 40/week. California: also daily overtime (over 8 hrs/day, over 12 hrs = 2×). Most hourly workers are non-exempt. Overtime must be paid — employers cannot "bank" hours or offer comp time instead of OT cash (except government employers).
15 min = 0.25 hrs. 30 min = 0.50 hrs. 45 min = 0.75 hrs. 6 min = 0.10 hrs. 12 min = 0.20 hrs. Formula: minutes ÷ 60 = decimal hours. Always use decimal hours for payroll math — never base-10.
Paid breaks (<20 min): must count as work time. Meal breaks (30+ min, fully off duty): can be unpaid. Auto-deducted breaks not actually taken = potential wage theft. Keep records of actual break times taken.
Bi-weekly (every 2 weeks): 43% of US employers. Weekly: 33%. Semi-monthly (1st and 15th): 19%. Monthly: 5%. OT is always calculated per workweek, never averaged across a bi-weekly or semi-monthly pay period (FLSA requirement).