How to count hours worked

Subtract times, then subtract breaks

Worked time is the span from clock-in to clock-out minus unpaid breaks. When a shift crosses midnight, add 24 hours to the end time before subtracting.

Minutes divide by 60, not by 100

Payroll systems multiply hours by an hourly rate, so 7 hours 45 minutes becomes 7.75 hours. Reading 45 minutes as 0.45 underpays by 18 minutes.

What counts as hours worked

Under FLSA guidance, short rest breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes generally count as worked time, while bona fide meal periods usually do not. State law and employer policy can add stricter rules.

Boundary: the calculator does simple time arithmetic. Whether a specific break, on-call period, or travel segment is compensable is a legal question about your jurisdiction and employer.

A full week, worked through

Totals go wrong when each day is rounded before adding. Keep hours and minutes until the end, then convert once.

The week totals 36 hours 50 minutes, which is 36.83 decimal hours. Recording it as 36.50 because 50 minutes looks like half an hour would underpay by 20 minutes.

When a meal break is not a break

Department of Labor guidance treats a bona fide meal period, typically 30 minutes or more, as time that generally need not be paid — but only if the employee is completely relieved from duty.

An employee who has to answer the phone, watch a machine, or stay at a post while eating is not relieved from duty, and that time is work time even if it is called lunch. Short rest breaks, usually 20 minutes or less, are counted as hours worked.

For timesheet arithmetic, that means the unpaid-break figure you subtract should only include breaks that were genuinely free. If a scheduled lunch was interrupted by work, subtracting it understates the hours.