How this calculator works
Each day’s hours are the time between start and end, minus the unpaid break. If the end time is earlier than the start, the shift is treated as running past midnight, so 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM with a 30-minute break is 7.5 hours.
Hours are shown both as hours and minutes (8:30) and as decimals (8.5), because payroll systems use decimals. Thirty minutes is 0.5 hours, fifteen minutes is 0.25.
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees must be paid overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek, at least one and a half times their regular rate. Hours over 40 are counted as overtime.
A few states go further. California, for example, requires overtime for hours over 8 in a single day as well. Turn on daily overtime to count those hours first; the weekly 40-hour rule then applies to the rest.
Gross pay is regular hours × your rate plus overtime hours × your rate × the overtime multiplier. The calculator also shows the overtime premium, the extra half of time-and-a-half, which is the amount that counts toward the federal overtime deduction.
Worked example
Five shifts from 9:00 AM with 30-minute breaks, $22 an hour
- Monday, Tuesday and Thursday end at 5:30 PM: 8 hours each. Wednesday ends at 6:30 PM (9 hours) and Friday at 7:00 PM (9.5 hours).
- Total: 42.5 hours, so 40 regular hours and 2.5 overtime hours.
- Pay: 40 × $22 = $880, plus 2.5 × $33 = $82.50, for $962.50 gross.
- The overtime premium (2.5 × $11) is $27.50.
Questions people ask
How do I convert minutes to decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60. 15 minutes is 0.25 hours, 30 minutes is 0.5, 45 minutes is 0.75, and 20 minutes is about 0.33.
Are lunch breaks paid?
Federal law doesn’t require pay for meal breaks of 30 minutes or more when you are fully relieved of duty. Short rest breaks, usually 5 to 20 minutes, are generally counted as paid work time. Some states have their own rules.
Does overtime count per day or per week?
Under federal law, per week: hours over 40 in a fixed 7-day workweek. A few states, such as California, also require overtime for hours over 8 in a day.
Are salaried employees paid overtime?
Only if they are non-exempt. Many salaried professional, executive and administrative employees are exempt from overtime rules. Being paid a salary alone doesn’t make someone exempt.
Sources
Last reviewed October 2, 2026