Timecard GuruWhat the 7-minute rule does
The 7-minute rule is quarter-hour rounding. A time clock that uses it does not keep the exact minute you punched. It moves the punch to the nearest 15-minute mark: :00, :15, :30, or :45. The halfway point of a 15-minute block is 7.5 minutes, so the whole minutes split like this: 1 through 7 minutes past a mark round back to that mark, and 8 through 14 minutes round forward to the next mark. 8:07 is 7 minutes past 8:00, so it rounds to 8:00. 8:08 is 8 minutes past 8:00, so it rounds to 8:15. The same split repeats at every quarter. 8:22 rounds to 8:15. 8:23 rounds to 8:30. 8:52 rounds to 8:45. 8:53 rounds to 9:00.
Fifteen-minute rounding and the 7-minute rule are the same practice. The 7 is the last minute that still rounds down. It is not a separate statute, and 29 CFR 785.48 does not use that nickname. The regulation says employers have long recorded start and stop times to the nearest 5 minutes, the nearest tenth of an hour, or the nearest quarter of an hour. Enforcement accepts that practice only when it averages out so employees are paid for all the time they actually work. A rule that always rounds early punches back and late punches back, and never the other way, fails that test even if someone calls it the 7-minute rule.
6-minute rounding is a tenth of an hour
Six-minute rounding is the nearest tenth of an hour. One tenth of an hour is 6 minutes, or 0.10 decimal hours. The chart is not "write the first digit and stop." Minutes 0, 1, and 2 stay on :00. Minutes 3 through 8 move to :06 (0.10). Minutes 9 through 14 move to :12 (0.20). The bands continue every 6 minutes, and minutes 57 through 59 move to the next hour. A tenth-hour clock and a quarter-hour clock will not agree on the same punch. 8:07 stays 8:06 on a 6-minute clock and becomes 8:00 on a 15-minute clock. Pick the rule the workplace actually uses, and use it on both the clock-in and the clock-out.
The calculator rounds each punch, then measures the shift between the rounded times. An overnight clock-out that reads earlier than the clock-in is treated as the next morning. Rounding can lengthen a shift, shorten it, or leave it the same. 8:07 to 17:08 is 9 hours and 1 minute before rounding. Under the 7-minute rule those punches become 8:00 and 17:15, which is 9 hours and 15 minutes, or 9.25 decimal hours. Under 6-minute rounding, 8:07 becomes 8:06 and 17:08 becomes 17:06, which is 9 hours even, or 9.00. The decimal is minutes divided by 60 after the rounding, not the raw minutes pasted after a dot. 7:30 is still 7.50 hours, and 8.15 hours is still 8 hours and 9 minutes. Rounding does not change that conversion. It changes which minute you convert.
15-minute chart (7-minute rule)
Read the minute past the hour. The same five bands repeat every hour. A punch at :53 through :59 belongs to the next hour, not to :45.
| Minutes past the hour | Rounds to | Decimal of that hour |
|---|---|---|
| 00–07 | :00 | 0.00 |
| 08–22 | :15 | 0.25 |
| 23–37 | :30 | 0.50 |
| 38–52 | :45 | 0.75 |
| 53–59 | next hour :00 | 1.00 |
6-minute chart (nearest tenth)
Each band is the nearest tenth of an hour. Three minutes is the halfway point of a 6-minute step, and this chart rounds that halfway minute forward, which is how tenth-hour time clocks are usually drawn. 0.10 hours is 6 minutes, not 10 minutes.
| Minutes past the hour | Rounds to | Tenth of an hour |
|---|---|---|
| 00–02 | :00 | 0.0 |
| 03–08 | :06 | 0.1 |
| 09–14 | :12 | 0.2 |
| 15–20 | :18 | 0.3 |
| 21–26 | :24 | 0.4 |
| 27–32 | :30 | 0.5 |
| 33–38 | :36 | 0.6 |
| 39–44 | :42 | 0.7 |
| 45–50 | :48 | 0.8 |
| 51–56 | :54 | 0.9 |
| 57–59 | next hour :00 | 1.0 |
Breaks, meals, and the workweek
Federal rules also separate breaks from the punch round. Short rest breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes count as hours worked under 29 CFR 785.18. A bona fide meal period, ordinarily 30 minutes or more while the employee is completely relieved of duty, is not hours worked under 29 CFR 785.19. Do not round away a paid rest break by calling it a meal. Overtime is separate again. When the FLSA overtime standard applies, hours over 40 in a workweek are paid at 1.5 times the regular rate under 29 CFR 778.107, and a biweekly paycheck does not average the two weeks together under 29 CFR 778.104. Thirty hours one week and 50 the next is 10 overtime hours, not a flat 80. Use the overtime calculator once the rounded week is totaled, and the lunch break calculator when the only question is the unpaid meal. Decimal hours after that are still minutes divided by 60 on the decimal hours calculator. The time conversion chart lists those conversions one value at a time.
This page does the rounding arithmetic. It does not decide whether an exemption applies, and some states limit rounding more tightly than the federal rule. Check the workplace policy against the text of 29 CFR 785.48 before treating a rounded card as the hours that have to be paid.
Frequently Asked Questions
+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 15-minute table on this page is that quarter-hour practice, and the 6-minute table is 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
+What is the 7-minute rule for a time clock?
The 7-minute rule is the common name for rounding to the nearest quarter hour, which is one of the practices 29 CFR 785.48(b) describes. In each 15-minute block, minutes 1 through 7 round back to the quarter and minutes 8 through 14 round forward to the next quarter. 8:07 rounds to 8:00. 8:08 rounds to 8:15. The regulation does not use the name "7-minute rule." The same section also allows nearest-tenth rounding, which moves punches in 6-minute steps. Either practice has to average out over time. Source: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-B/part-785/subpart-D/section-785.48