Work Hours Calculator

gross = end − start, plus 24 hours when the end is earlier; net = gross − min(break, gross); overtime = max(0, net − standard hours), and the regular hours are whatever is left of the net

startTime

When the shift began, in 24-hour notation such as 09:00

endTime

When it ended. A time earlier than the start is read as the next morning, so a night shift is typed as it appears on the clock

unpaidBreak

The break deducted from this shift, in minutes or in hours. It is capped at the length of the shift, so 90 minutes of break on a one-hour shift leaves zero rather than negative time

standardHours

The threshold the net hours are measured against — a figure you supply, because whether a normal day is 8 hours or 7.5 is a matter of contract and jurisdiction rather than arithmetic

workHours

The net hours worked, to two decimal places: the number that goes on a timesheet

hoursPart

The same net hours read as a clock — 8 here, with the minutes in the next row

minutesPart

0 to 59, the minutes left after the whole hours. 8 hours 30 minutes of net work shows 30

grossHours

The whole span from clock-in to clock-out, before the break comes off — 8.5 for 09:00 to 17:30

breakHours

The break actually deducted. If the break was longer than the shift this is the shift, not the figure you typed

regularHours

Net hours up to the threshold

overtimeHours

Net hours above the threshold. Regular hours plus overtime hours always add up to the net hours

Use it to fill in a timesheet or to check a payslip for a single shift, especially when a break has to come off first. It is also the page for the question behind a long day — how much of it was overtime — with the threshold left in your hands rather than baked in. For a whole week of shifts the hours calculator adds seven of these lines up, and it is the page to use when the week rather than the day is what the overtime rule applies to. If nothing should be deducted at all — a meeting, a journey, a machine cycle — the time duration calculator measures the gap on the clock and subtracts nothing, and the two decimal pages convert a net figure for a rate.

1. A standard day, 09:00 to 17:30 with a 30-minute break

   1. 09:00 to 17:30 is 8 hours 30 minutes on the clock, which is 8.5 hours gross
   2. The 30-minute break is 0.5 hours, so the net is 8.5 − 0.5 = 8 hours
   3. The threshold of 8 hours is met exactly, so there is nothing above it: overtime is 0
   4. The rows reconcile — 8.5 − 0.5 = 8 net, and 8 regular plus 0 overtime is the same 8

   Ten and a half hours at the desk is not ten and a half hours of work once a lunch break is in the day, and eight hours of net work is exactly what the 09:00 to 17:30 pattern with a half-hour break was built to produce.

2. A long day, 08:00 to 17:00 with the same break

   1. 08:00 to 17:00 is 9 hours gross
   2. Deducting the 30-minute break leaves 8.5 hours net
   3. Against a threshold of 8 hours, half an hour sits above the line: overtime is 0.5
   4. The regular row is the rest of the net — 8 hours — and 8 + 0.5 = 8.5 net as it must

   Whether that half hour is paid at a premium, at the normal rate, or not at all depends on a contract or a labour code; this page only says how much of the day sat above the line you drew.

3. A night shift, 22:00 to 06:00

   1. 06:00 is earlier than 22:00, so the end is read as the next morning: 22:00 to midnight is 2 hours and midnight to 06:00 is 6 hours
   2. The gross span is 8 hours, the same as a daytime shift of the same length
   3. Half an hour of break leaves 7.5 hours net
   4. Nothing is above the 8-hour threshold, so the whole of it is regular time

   Typing the times as they appear on the clock is the whole trick: without the overnight rule the same two times would give minus sixteen hours, and a night shift would need a note on every timesheet.

The threshold is a number you type, so this page does not decide what a normal day is: eight hours is the standard working day in China, forty hours a week is the figure written into United States federal law, and a daily overtime rule does not exist federally there at all — the panel simply splits the net hours wherever you put the line. The break is one figure for the whole shift and is capped at the shift's length, so a day when the break ran long and a day when it did not cannot both be entered as they happened. Only a single shift fits, and both times are taken to the minute: 09:00:30 cannot be typed and a shift longer than 23 hours 59 minutes cannot be written as a pair of clock times. Paid holidays, rest-day premiums and the hourly rate itself are all outside this calculation.

How do I work out the hours I actually worked?

Subtract the start time from the end time to get the span, then take the unpaid break off. 09:00 to 17:30 is 8 hours 30 minutes, and a 30-minute break leaves 8 hours. This work hours calculator does both steps and shows the gross span, the break and the net beside each other so the arithmetic can be checked at a glance.

Is a lunch break deducted from my working hours?

A bona fide meal period is not worktime, which is why this page asks for the break and subtracts it — the rule itself is in 29 C.F.R. § 785.19, where a meal period of 30 minutes or more is the ordinary case. A short coffee break is a rest period rather than a meal period and is usually paid, so it should not be entered here. In practice, enter the break your employer actually deducts.

How is overtime worked out here?

The net hours are split at the standard hours you type: everything above that line is overtime and the rest is regular time, so 8.5 net hours against an 8-hour threshold is 8 regular plus 0.5 overtime. This page does not decide what the threshold should be, and it does not apply a premium. In the United States the federal rule measures the workweek rather than the day — over forty hours at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate — while China's standard day is 8 hours and its standard week 40.

What if the break is longer than the shift?

The deduction is capped at the length of the shift, so the day is recorded as zero hours rather than negative ones. A one-hour shift with 90 minutes of break entered gives 0 net hours, and the break row reports the hour that was actually there to deduct rather than the 90 minutes typed. Untaken break is not time off in hand — it cannot be carried into another day.

How do I enter a shift that ends after midnight?

Type both times as they are on the clock and leave the reading to the page: an end time earlier than the start is treated as the next morning, so 22:00 to 06:00 is 8 hours gross. Do not add 24 hours yourself and do not write 30:00, which is not a time. Two identical times count as zero rather than as a full day, so a same-time entry cannot be used to mean a 24-hour shift.

• 29 C.F.R. § 785.19 — Meal periods (bona fide meal periods are not worktime; ordinarily 30 minutes or more) — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
• 29 U.S.C. § 207 — Maximum hours (over forty hours in a workweek at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate) — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School