TinyTools Work Hours & Pay Calculators

Guide

How Time Cards Work

Updated

A time card is a record of when you started and stopped work each day in a pay period. Payroll uses it to work out how many hours to pay you for, including overtime. It can be a paper sheet, a spreadsheet, or entries in a time-tracking app.

What a time card records

  • The date and day.
  • Clock in and clock out times — one pair per shift, or more if you leave and return.
  • Unpaid breaks, usually lunch, in minutes.
  • Sometimes a job or project code so hours can be allocated.

Filling one out

  1. Record your actual start and finish times to the minute, as you go — not from memory at the end of the week.
  2. Note the length of any unpaid break.
  3. At the end of each day, work out the hours: (clock out − clock in) − unpaid break.
  4. At the end of the period, add the daily totals and convert to decimal hours for payroll.
  5. Sign it if your employer requires a signature, and keep your own copy.

The Time Card Calculator does steps 3–4 for a whole week and applies overtime. For a stack of raw punches, the Time Clock Calculator totals them into decimal hours.

Pay periods

A time card covers one pay period. Common periods are weekly (52 a year), biweekly (26), and semi-monthly (24, on set dates like the 15th and last day). Overtime is generally figured on each workweek, even when the pay period is longer.

How employers round punch times

Rounding to the nearest 5, 6 (a tenth of an hour), or 15 minutes is common. In the US, the FLSA allows rounding only if, over time, it does not systematically underpay employees. The "7-minute rule" for 15-minute rounding sends 1–7 minutes down and 8–14 up. Rounding must be applied the same way whether it helps or hurts the worker.

Record-keeping

US employers must keep accurate records of hours worked for non-exempt employees, generally for at least two to three years depending on the record. Your own copy of each time card is your evidence if there is ever a dispute about hours or pay.

Common mistakes that cost hours

  • Logging scheduled hours instead of actual hours worked.
  • Forgetting an overnight shift crosses midnight.
  • Deducting a lunch that was not actually taken.
  • Writing 7 hours 30 minutes as 7.30 instead of 7.50.
  • Not recording short shifts, callbacks, or time spent on required tasks before or after a shift.

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