You clocked in at 8:52 and out at 5:07, with 31 minutes for lunch. How many hours worked does that add up to? If you just guessed "about 8," you're close — but "close" is exactly how payroll disputes start.
The honest answer is 7.73 hours, and getting there takes three steps: convert to 24-hour time, subtract the unpaid break, then convert the leftover minutes to a decimal. Do that fifty times a year across a whole team and small rounding habits turn into real money, in either direction.
Use the Time Card Calculator → to run your own punches through this instantly, or follow the math below to check it by hand.
Key Takeaways
- Hours worked = (time out − time in) − unpaid break minutes, converted to decimal by dividing minutes by 60.
- Federal law requires overtime pay at 1.5× your regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek (U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #23).
- Employers may round punches, but only if the rounding is neutral over time — 1-7 minutes down, 8-14 minutes up to the nearest quarter hour (29 CFR § 785.48(b)).
- California, Alaska, and Colorado layer daily overtime rules on top of the federal weekly threshold, so your paycheck math can differ by where you work.
How Do You Calculate Hours Worked From a Time Card?
The core formula is: Hours worked = (Clock-out time − Clock-in time) − Unpaid break minutes, with the result converted to decimal hours by dividing leftover minutes by 60. That last step is where most manual math goes wrong, because a clock reads in hours and minutes but payroll runs on decimals.
Take the 8:52 to 5:07 shift above. Converted to 24-hour time, that's 08:52 to 17:07 — a raw span of 8 hours and 15 minutes. Subtract the 31-minute unpaid lunch and you're left with 7 hours and 44 minutes. Divide the 44 minutes by 60 and you get 0.73, so the shift is 7.73 hours, not the "basically 8" most people would eyeball.
For a full week, add up each day's decimal hours before you multiply by the hourly rate. Five days like the one above comes to 38.65 hours — under the 40-hour mark, so no overtime kicks in yet. Change any single day by 15 unrounded minutes and that total can cross the line without anyone noticing until the pay stub arrives.
Why Don't My Hours Match What I Remember Working?
Rounding is almost always the answer, and it's legal — within limits. Employers may round employee time in 5, 10, or 15-minute increments, but the rounding has to average out over time rather than consistently favor the company (29 CFR § 785.48(b)). The common version is the so-called 7-minute rule:
| Minutes past the quarter hour | Rounds to |
|---|---|
| 1-7 minutes | Down, to the last full quarter hour |
| 8-14 minutes | Up, to the next full quarter hour |
Run the same 8:52 clock-in through that rule and it rounds down to 8:45 (7 minutes shaved off); a 5:07 clock-out rounds up to 5:15 (8 minutes added). On this shift, rounding happens to work in your favor. But a system that rounds fairly should land close to even across a pay period — if your rounded hours are always lower than your actual punches, that's worth raising with HR, since a rounding policy that systematically shortchanges workers isn't compliant.
One thing rounding never touches: unpaid breaks. A genuine meal break — one where you're relieved of all duties, usually 30 minutes or more — is unpaid and gets subtracted before any rounding happens (29 CFR § 785.19). Short breaks running roughly 5 to 20 minutes are treated as paid work time and aren't subtracted at all, since federal rules count them as part of the job, not time off it (29 CFR § 785.18).
How Is Overtime Pay Calculated?
Overtime pay is your regular hourly rate multiplied by 1.5, applied to every hour worked past 40 in a single workweek — a rule set by the Fair Labor Standards Act and enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL Fact Sheet #23: Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA). A workweek is a fixed, recurring 168-hour period; it doesn't have to match the calendar week, but once your employer sets it, it can't shift around to dodge overtime.
Example: you work 45 hours in a week at $20/hour. The first 40 hours pay at the normal rate ($800), and the remaining 5 hours pay at 1.5× your rate — $30/hour — adding $150. Total pay for the week: $950, not the $900 you'd get by multiplying 45 × $20 flat.
That 1.5× multiplier applies to your regular rate, which isn't always just your stated hourly wage — nondiscretionary bonuses and shift differentials generally have to be folded in first, which is why two people working identical overtime hours can see different premium amounts. If your pay includes bonuses or differentials, use your actual blended rate for the week, not just the number on your offer letter.
A note on where you work: the 40-hour weekly rule is the federal floor, not the ceiling. A few states add their own daily overtime rules on top of it, so you can owe overtime pay even in a week that finishes under 40 hours:
| State | Daily overtime trigger | Source |
|---|---|---|
| California | 1.5× after 8 hrs/day; 2× after 12 hrs/day | Cal. Labor Code §510, DIR FAQ |
| Alaska | 1.5× after 8 hrs/day | Alaska Dept. of Labor |
| Colorado | 1.5× after 12 hrs/day | Colorado COMPS Order |
If your state isn't on this list, the federal 40-hour weekly rule is almost certainly what applies — but check your state labor department or an employment attorney to be sure, since this article covers the federal baseline, not every state variation.
Salaried vs. Hourly: Who Actually Gets Overtime?
Not everyone working past 40 hours gets 1.5× pay for it, and the split isn't about job title — it's about the FLSA's salary and duties tests. Employees are generally entitled to overtime unless they earn above a set weekly salary threshold and their actual job duties meet an exemption category like executive, administrative, or professional work (DOL Fact Sheet #17A: Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer & Outside Sales Employees). Miss either condition and the overtime requirement still applies, salary or not.
This is also where hourly-vs-salary conversions get people into trouble. If you're deciding whether a salaried offer is actually a good deal once you account for the unpaid hours past 40, converting it to an effective hourly rate makes the comparison honest — see our Salary ↔ Hourly Converter guide for that math. A "salaried" title doesn't automatically mean overtime-exempt, and plenty of misclassified employees are legally owed back pay once the duties test is applied correctly.
Independent contractors and freelancers sit outside this system entirely — the FLSA's overtime rule only covers employees, not people running their own contracting business. That's one reason freelance hourly rates are typically quoted well above what an equivalent employee earns: there's no overtime premium and no employer picking up half the payroll tax. Our freelance rate guide breaks down what that gap should actually look like in your rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do unpaid lunch breaks count toward my 40-hour overtime threshold?
No. A genuine unpaid meal break — one where you're fully relieved of duties, typically 30 minutes or longer — is subtracted before totaling your weekly hours (29 CFR § 785.19). If you're eating at your desk while still handling calls or messages, that time usually should be paid and counted.
Can my employer round my time down every single day?
Not legally. DOL rules allow rounding in either direction as long as it's neutral over time; a policy that consistently rounds down and never up shortchanges workers and can violate minimum wage and overtime rules even if each individual rounding increment looks small.
Does working 8 hours of overtime in one day guarantee overtime pay?
Only under federal law if your total for the week exceeds 40 hours — the FLSA counts weekly totals, not daily ones. States like California and Alaska impose their own daily overtime thresholds on top of the federal rule, so a long single day can trigger overtime pay there even in a light week overall.
How do I convert my decimal hours back into an actual paycheck?
Multiply your decimal hours by your hourly rate for any hours up to 40, then multiply overtime hours by 1.5× your rate, and add the two together. The Time Card Calculator does this automatically once you enter your punches and pay rate.
Get Your Hours Worked Right on Every Pay Stub
The gap between "close enough" and correct is usually a handful of minutes per shift — but multiply that by every pay period in a year and it stops being trivial. Track your actual punches, know how your employer's rounding policy works, and check your weekly total against the 40-hour line before assuming a light day means a light check.
Run your own numbers with the Time Card Calculator — enter your clock-in, clock-out, and break times and get your decimal hours and any overtime pay calculated automatically.
This article explains the federal FLSA baseline for calculating hours worked and overtime pay. It is general educational information, not legal or payroll advice. State and local laws can require additional overtime protections beyond the federal rule; confirm the specific requirements for your location with your state labor department or a qualified employment attorney.