In-depth guide · Hours
How to Calculate Hours Worked on a Time Card
How to calculate hours worked from in and out punches: subtract, remove unpaid meal breaks, handle overnight and DST shifts, convert to decimal.
11 min read
22 guides · 4 in depth · updated October 22, 2026
Guides, one question each
Each guide answers one question with the rule from the law or the agency that enforces it, works it through on real numbers and lists its sources with the date they were read.
Hours & time cards
Adding up a time card the right way: minutes and decimal hours, breaks, overnight shifts, daylight saving time and 24-hour clocks — worked through on real examples.
Calculators: Time card · Hours · Time to decimal · Add hours · Military time
Guide · Hours
Daylight Saving Time and Night Shifts: 7 Hours or 9?
On a daylight saving night, a 10 PM to 6:30 AM shift is 9 hours in November and 7 in March. The 2026 and 2027 dates, the pay rule and the time card entry.
5 min read
Guide · Hours
How to Fill Out a Weekly Time Card
Fill out a weekly time card step by step: the header, each day’s in and out times, meal breaks, overnight shifts, daily and weekly totals, and signing it.
6 min read
Guide · Hours
Military Time on Time Cards: 12 AM, 12 PM and 2400
Read 24-hour times on a time card: add 12 to PM hours, 1200 is noon, 0000 is midnight and 2400 ends the day. A full chart, plus overnight shifts.
5 min read
Guide · Hours
Minutes to Decimal Hours: Why 8.30 Is Not 8:30
Convert minutes to decimal hours by dividing by 60. A 0–60 minute chart, the rounding rule, and the payroll errors that come from mixing 8:30 and 8.30.
4 min read
Overtime rules
The federal 40-hour rule and every state rule on top of it — daily overtime, seventh-day overtime, double time — plus the regular rate, bonuses and who is exempt, each from the law or the agency that enforces it.
Calculators: Overtime · Time card · Regular rate
In-depth guide · Overtime
Overtime Laws by State: Daily, Weekly and 7th-Day Rules
The federal 40-hour rule, the five states with daily overtime, the two with seventh-day rules, and how state and federal overtime combine, for all 51.
10 min read
In-depth guide · Overtime
Regular Rate of Pay: Overtime With Bonuses and Two Rates
How the FLSA regular rate works: what counts, two rates in one week, bonuses, differentials and salaries, with the DOL’s own examples recomputed.
11 min read
Guide · Overtime
Comp Time Instead of Overtime Pay: Who Can Offer It
Under the FLSA, comp time in place of overtime pay is for state and local governments. The public-agency rules, and what private employers can do instead.
5 min read
Guide · Overtime
Double Time: When the Law Requires It
No federal law requires double time, and California is the only state in the data that does. Where it comes from and how the tax deduction counts it.
6 min read
Guide · Overtime
Exempt vs Non-Exempt: The $684 Salary Test and Duties
What makes a job exempt from federal overtime: the $684 weekly salary level, the salary basis test, the duties tests, and why the 2024 rule is gone.
6 min read
Guide · Overtime
Is Holiday or Weekend Work Overtime?
Under federal law, holiday and weekend hours are ordinary hours that count toward 40, and paid holidays off don’t. The state rules that add a premium.
5 min read
Guide · Overtime
Overtime in a Bi-Weekly Pay Period: 80 Hours Is Not the Line
Overtime is counted per workweek, never averaged over a two-week pay period. Why 30 + 50 hours means 10 overtime hours, with the pay math.
5 min read
Guide · Overtime
Seventh-Day Overtime: Which States Have It
California and Kentucky pay a premium for the seventh day worked in one workweek. What counts as the seventh day, the rates, and worked examples.
5 min read
Guide · Overtime
Which States Have Daily Overtime?
Five states pay overtime for long days: Alaska, California, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon. Their thresholds, conditions, 4x10 rules and worked examples.
5 min read
Pay & the overtime deduction
Hourly to salary, raises, and the 2025–2028 federal deduction for overtime pay: what counts, the cap and the income limit, and how to find your number — from the law and the IRS.
Calculators: No tax on overtime · Hourly to salary · Salary to hourly · Pay raise · Gross pay
In-depth guide · Pay & tax
No Tax on Overtime: What Counts for the 2025–2028 Deduction
The overtime deduction covers only the FLSA half-time premium, up to $12,500 or $25,000, for tax years 2025–2028. What counts, the phase-out and the forms.
10 min read
Guide · Pay & tax
Hourly to Salary: 2,080 Hours vs Real Hours in 2026 and 2027
Hourly to salary uses 2,080 hours, but 2026 has 2,000 weekday hours after federal holidays and 2027 has 1,992. Conversions, 27-paycheck years and 2,087.
5 min read
Guide · Pay & tax
How to Calculate a Pay Raise Percentage
Raise % = (new pay − old pay) ÷ old pay × 100. Worked hourly and yearly examples, why two 5% raises aren’t 10%, overtime after a raise and real raises.
4 min read
Guide · Pay & tax
The Overtime Deduction on a 2025 Return Without a W-2 Amount
Most 2025 W-2s don’t show qualified overtime. The IRS Notice 2025-69 methods, the Schedule 1-A lines and the records to keep, with worked numbers.
6 min read
Rules & records
Breaks, time-clock rounding, the records employers must keep and the federal holiday calendar — what the rules say and what to check on your own time card.
Calculators: Rounding · Business days · PTO accrual · Hours in a year
Guide · Rules
Are Breaks Paid? Rest Breaks, Meal Periods and State Rules
Federal law requires no breaks, but short breaks are paid and true meal periods are not. States requiring meal or rest breaks, and auto-deducted lunches.
6 min read
Guide · Rules
Federal Holidays and Business Days, 2026–2027
The 11 federal holidays with observed dates for 2026 and 2027, the weekend rule, the December 31, 2027 trap, and how to count business days.
5 min read
Guide · Rules
The 7-Minute Rule and Time Clock Rounding
How quarter-hour rounding and the 7-minute rule work under federal law, why rounding has to be neutral, and how per-punch rounding changes a day’s total.
5 min read
Guide · Rules
Time Records: What Employers Must Keep (and You Should)
29 CFR 516.2 lists the pay and hours records employers keep for each non-exempt worker: 3 years for payroll, 2 for time cards. What workers should keep.
5 min read