Guides to hours, overtime and pay periods

Plain-English guides to working out hours, overtime, rounding and pay periods, with official sources.

Not legal, tax or payroll advice. This page is provided as is, for general information only. It is not legal, tax, payroll or financial advice. Labor laws and pay rules change and vary by state, employer, job and your situation. Confirm with your employer, your state labor department, the U.S. Department of Labor or a qualified professional before relying on it.

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Guides

How to calculate hours workedStart time, end time and breaks, step by step.
Minutes to decimal for payrollDivide by 60, with a conversion table.
How overtime worksThe federal workweek rule with a worked pay example.
Time clock rounding (the 7-minute rule)What the federal rounding regulation says.
How to fill out a time cardEach box on a time card, with a filled-in week.
Biweekly vs semi-monthly pay26 or 27 paychecks against 24, compared.
Overnight shifts and payrollCount hours for a shift that crosses midnight.
Daylight saving time and night shiftsThe official dates and the one-hour arithmetic.
What is a pay periodWeekly, biweekly, semi-monthly and monthly periods.
The 2-2-3 schedule explainedHoursPad's 2-2-3 preset, with hours per cycle.

State rules

Overtime and break rules by stateAll 50 states and DC: what the U.S. Department of Labor's meal and rest period tables say, with links to each state labor department.
California overtime calculatorSplit one day's hours at the California daily thresholds, with the sources quoted.
Alaska overtime calculatorSplit one day's hours at the daily threshold in the Alaska statute, with the source quoted.
Colorado overtime calculatorSplit one day's hours at the workday line in Colorado's COMPS Order, with the source quoted.
Nevada overtime calculatorSplit one day's hours at the daily line in the Nevada statute, with the source quoted.
New York overtime calculatorA week time card with New York's overtime wage order quoted from the state labor department.
Oregon overtime calculatorA week time card with Oregon's overtime wording quoted from the state labor bureau.
Texas overtime calculatorA week time card with the federal overtime rule and what the Texas Workforce Commission publishes.
Washington overtime calculatorA week time card with Washington's overtime statute quoted from the state legislature.