Timecard GuruHours between two times
An hours calculator answers a smaller question than a weekly card: how long is the gap between a start and an end. Subtract the start from the end, in minutes, then turn the minutes back into hours. From 9:00 to 17:00 the gap is 8 hours exactly. The decimal form of that gap is 8.00, which is the figure you multiply by an hourly rate when there is no unpaid break to remove.
A break shortens the gap. Thirty minutes off an 8-hour span leaves 7 hours and 30 minutes, or 7.50 decimal hours. The break field is there for that subtraction. Leave it at 0 when you want the raw elapsed time, the way a parking clock or a meeting length is measured. Put the unpaid meal in when the result has to match pay. A paid meal stays in the total, so you would leave the break at 0 or move to the lunch break calculator, which has a paid-lunch switch.
Overnight shifts and identical times
Clock faces repeat every 12 or 24 hours, so a later-looking number can still be an earlier moment. 10:00 at night to 6:00 in the morning is not a negative. The end is on the next calendar day, and the gap is 8 hours. The calculator treats any end earlier than the start as a midnight crossing and says so under the result. The opposite case matters just as much: if you enter the same time twice, the gap is 0 hours. It is not a full day. A full day is 24 hours only when you really worked that long, and you would enter a start and an end a day apart, not the same reading twice.
Decimal output follows the same minute rule as the rest of the site. 15 leftover minutes are 0.25, 30 are 0.50, and 45 are 0.75. 8 hours and 15 minutes is 8.25, not 8.15. If a pay stub already shows a decimal and you need the clock reading, that is the decimal to hours calculator. 8.15 hours, for example, is 8 hours and 9 minutes.
One span versus a week
Use this page for one interval: a shift, a meeting, a drive, a class. When the day is several separate blocks, add several shifts together. When you have five or seven of those intervals and a lunch on each, the weekly time card calculator keeps a row per day and separates lunch from paid time. When you already know the daily totals and only need the part past 40 hours, the overtime calculator takes those totals and a rate. The hours between two times stay here so the arithmetic does not get mixed up with a weekly policy.
Nothing you type is stored. Change either clock or the break and the hours update immediately, in both clock form and decimal form, so you can check a timesheet line before you submit it.
Frequently Asked Questions
+How many hours are between 9:00 and 5:00?
9:00 to 17:00 is 8 hours, or 8.00 decimal hours, before any break. A 30-minute unpaid break makes it 7 hours and 30 minutes, or 7.50.
+How does the hours calculator handle midnight?
If the end time is earlier than the start time, the shift is treated as ending the next day. 22:00 to 06:00 is 8 hours. If the two times are identical, the result is 0 hours, not 24.
+Should I enter the break?
Enter an unpaid break so the result is time you expect to be paid for. Leave the break at 0 when you want the raw span between the two clocks.
+What is the difference between hours and decimal hours?
Hours and minutes match a clock. Decimal hours are a single number payroll can multiply. 8 hours 30 minutes is 8.50, not 8.30.
+Can I total a whole week here?
This page is one pair of times. For seven days with a lunch on each, use the weekly time card calculator.
+Are short rest breaks paid?
When the Fair Labor Standards Act applies, yes. 29 CFR 785.18 says rest periods of short duration, running from 5 minutes to about 20 minutes, must be counted as hours worked. That paid rest time may not be offset against other working time. A 10-minute rest break stays in the paid total. It is not a meal period. Source: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-B/part-785/subpart-C/section-785.18
+Is a 30-minute meal period unpaid?
A bona fide meal period is not hours worked. 29 CFR 785.19 says the employee must be completely relieved of duty for the purpose of eating a regular meal. Ordinarily 30 minutes or more is long enough. Coffee breaks and time for snacks are rest periods, not meal periods. If the employee has to perform any duties while eating, the time is hours worked. The employee does not have to be allowed to leave the premises if they are otherwise completely freed from duty. Source: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-B/part-785/subpart-C/section-785.19
+Can an employer round time clock punches?
29 CFR 785.48(b) describes rounding start and stop times to the nearest 5 minutes, the nearest tenth of an hour, or the nearest quarter of an hour. The practice is accepted for enforcement only when it averages out and does not, over a period of time, fail to pay for all the time actually worked. Rounding that always shortens the shift does not meet that test. The time clock rounding calculator at https://timecardguru.com/time-clock-rounding-calculator applies the quarter-hour practice and the nearest tenth of an hour. Source: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-B/part-785/subpart-D/section-785.48
+Is overtime calculated on the biweekly paycheck?
No. Each workweek stands alone. 29 CFR 778.104 says the Act does not permit averaging hours over two or more weeks, even when the employee is paid biweekly. Someone who works 30 hours one week and 50 the next is owed overtime for the hours past the weekly maximum in the second week, even though the two-week average is 40. 29 CFR 778.107 states the general standard: those overtime hours are paid at not less than 1.5 times the regular rate. Exemptions exist, and this is not a coverage decision. Sources: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-B/part-778/subpart-B/section-778.104 and https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-B/part-778/subpart-B/section-778.107