Work Hours

Work hours, overtime and pay

Enter your start and finish times, take out the breaks you are not paid for, and see the paid hours per day, the weekly total split into regular and overtime, and what that adds up to in pay. Nothing leaves your browser.

Your shift

saved on this device

StartEnd

Lunch (min)Unpaid meal break.Other breaks (min)Anything else unpaid.

Days per week

Hourly rateSymbol

Overtime after (h)Per week.Overtime rate1.5 means time and a half.

Paid per day

7 h

7.00 decimal hours

Paid per week

35 h

5 days a week

Regular hours

35 h

First 40 h

Overtime hours

0 h

Paid at 1.5x

Weekly pay

$875.00

Gross, before tax

Monthly pay

$3,791.67

Weekly x 52 / 12

Breakdown

per week

Time on site: 8 h (09:00 to 17:00)
Unpaid breaks: 1 h
Paid hours per day: 7 h
Paid hours per week: 35 h
Regular pay (35.00 h at $25.00): $875.00
Overtime pay (0.00 h at $37.50): $0.00
Weekly total: $875.00
Monthly estimate: $3,791.67
Annual estimate: $45,500.00

Pay figures are gross. Tax, pension and other deductions are not included, and the monthly number spreads 52 equal weeks across 12 months.

How to use it

Put in the time you start and the time you finish. If the shift ends after midnight, enter the finishing time as it is and the calculator adds the extra day.
Enter the minutes of unpaid lunch, then any other unpaid breaks. Leave paid rest breaks out, since they already count as working time.
Set how many days a week you work that shift.
Enter your hourly rate, and change the symbol next to it if you are not working in dollars.
Set the weekly hour count where overtime starts and the rate it pays. The defaults are 40 hours and 1.5x, which is the US federal rule for hourly employees.
Read the weekly and monthly totals. Your entries are saved in this browser and are never sent anywhere.

A worked example

Say you start at 08:30, finish at 17:30, take an unpaid hour for lunch, and work five days a week at $25 an hour.

08:30 to 17:30 is 9 hours on site.
Take off the 60 minute lunch and you are paid for 8 hours a day.
8 hours across 5 days is 40 hours a week, which is exactly the threshold, so no overtime.
40 hours at $25 is $1,000.00 for the week.
$1,000.00 x 52 / 12 gives a monthly estimate of $4,333.33.

Now add a sixth day

Change days per week from 5 to 6 and the weekly total becomes 48 hours. The first 40 are still paid at $25, which is $1,000.00. The extra 8 hours are paid at $37.50, which is $300.00. The week comes to $1,300.00 and the monthly estimate rises to $5,633.33.

An overnight version

A shift from 22:00 to 06:00 with a 30 minute unpaid meal break gives 8 hours on site and 7 h 30 m paid. Five of those a week is 37 h 30 m, still under the 40 hour threshold. Any night or weekend premium your employer pays on top is not part of this calculation, so add it separately.

Frequently asked questions

How are work hours calculated?

Subtract the start time from the finish time to get the length of the shift, then take off any break you are not paid for. What is left is your paid time. Payroll systems normally work in minutes and convert to decimal hours at the end, so 7 h 30 m is entered as 7.5 rather than 7.30. Many US employers round each clock entry to the nearest quarter hour, which federal rules allow as long as the rounding does not consistently come out in the employer's favour over time.

Does lunch count as paid time?

Usually not, if it is a real break. Under US federal rules a meal period of 30 minutes or more counts as unpaid when you are genuinely relieved of duty, while short breaks of roughly 5 to 20 minutes are treated as paid working time. If you eat at your desk and keep taking calls or answering messages, that time is generally still work and should be paid. Several states and most other countries set their own minimums, so check the rule that applies where you are before relying on the number.

How is overtime calculated?

Hours above the threshold are paid at the regular rate multiplied by the overtime rate. The US federal standard for non-exempt employees is anything over 40 hours in a workweek at 1.5 times the regular rate. Some places also use a daily threshold: California pays 1.5x after 8 hours in a day and 2x after 12. If your contract or local law uses different numbers, change the threshold and the multiplier at the top of this page and the split updates.

How do I calculate hours for an overnight shift?

When the finish time is earlier than the start time, add 24 hours before subtracting. So 22:00 to 06:00 is 6:00 plus 24 hours, minus 22:00, which is 8 hours. This page does that for you as soon as the end time falls before the start time. Unpaid breaks come off the same way. Payroll usually credits the whole shift to the day it began, so check how your timesheet splits a shift that crosses midnight before comparing totals. For counting whole days and dates instead of hours, the date calculators cover that side.

What if I am salaried rather than hourly?

Work out an effective hourly rate first: divide your annual salary by 52, then divide that by your contracted weekly hours. A $65,000 salary on a 40 hour week comes to about $31.25 an hour. Enter that as the rate to see what your time is worth per hour and per shift. Salaried employees who are exempt from overtime do not get the extra rate for long weeks, so set the overtime threshold to 168 to switch that part off and read the hours instead of the pay.