Counting hours with lunch breaks
The cardinal rule of time cards: paid time is what you worked, not what you were on site. Only unpaid breaks come off the total — a 30- or 60-minute lunch is typical; short rest breaks (5–20 minutes) are paid under US law and should stay out of the lunch field. The calculator converts every day into decimal hours (7 h 30 m = 7.50) because that's the unit payroll systems multiply your rate by.
The daily math it performs: (clock-out − clock-in − unpaid break), with overnight shifts wrapped past midnight automatically — night-shift workers, enter your real times (22:00 → 06:00) and the eight hours land correctly.
Weekly vs. biweekly cards
Weekly cards cover one payroll week; biweekly cards cover the two-week cycle most US employers pay on (26 paychecks a year — different from semi-monthly, which is two fixed dates a month). Switch modes above and enter both weeks; the calculator tracks each week separately because overtime is legally counted per week, not across the period. Working 44 h then 36 h is 8 overtime hours, not 0.
Military time — and why timesheets love it
Military time (00:00–23:59) has no AM/PM and no “12:00 twice a day” ambiguity, which is why hospitals, factories and the armed forces run on it. The fields above accept it natively: type 13:30 for 1:30 PM. Quick conversion for the 13–23 hours: subtract 12 and add PM (17:00 → 5 PM). For payroll math nothing changes — 90 minutes is 1.50 decimal hours in either notation.
Free online, no sign-up
No account, no payroll software, no spreadsheet gymnastics. The card computes as you type, entirely on your device — nothing is uploaded, and closing the tab clears it. Pair it with our tip calculator and concrete calculator for the rest of the number-crunching a week throws at you.