Why a two week card needs to be split into weeks
Most U.S. employers pay every two weeks, 26 paychecks a year, so the natural thing is to add up 80 hours and pay them. That is fine for the total, but overtime cannot be calculated on the two week total. The Fair Labor Standards Act measures overtime per workweek, a fixed and recurring period of 168 hours, and it does not allow averaging two weeks together. Working 50 hours in week one and 30 in week two adds up to 80, but the worker is owed 10 hours of overtime for week one. Averaging would wrongly say zero.
This calculator treats the first seven rows as week one and the next seven as week two. Each week gets its own overtime split, and the totals block shows the combined regular, overtime and pay figures for the period. Change the "workweek starts on" setting under the overtime options so the rows line up with your employer's workweek; many start on Sunday, others on Monday or midweek.
A worked example
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Pay period | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hours worked | 50:00 | 30:00 | 80:00 |
| Regular hours | 40.00 | 30.00 | 70.00 |
| Overtime hours | 10.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Pay at $20/hr | $1,100.00 | $600.00 | $1,700.00 |
Biweekly versus semi-monthly
Biweekly means every other week, always on the same weekday, giving 26 pay periods a year and two months each year with three paydays. Semi-monthly means twice a month on set dates, such as the 15th and the last day, giving 24 pay periods. A semi-monthly period does not line up with workweeks at all, because it can start on any weekday, which makes overtime on a semi-monthly card harder to check. The biweekly vs semi-monthly guide explains the difference in detail.
Filling in the card quickly
- Enter Monday's punches, then press Copy first day to weekdays to fill Monday to Friday across both weeks, and adjust the days that differ.
- Leave the lunch fields blank on days you took no lunch, or set an automatic unpaid break under the overtime options for days without lunch punches.
- Overnight shifts are fine: an out time earlier than the in time is read as the next morning.
- Your entries are saved in this browser as you type, so you can add each day as the period goes and come back to it.
- Print the card or download a CSV when the period closes, to keep your own record next to the pay stub.
Checking a biweekly paycheck
Compare three numbers with your stub: total hours for the period, overtime hours, and gross pay. If the total hours match but overtime does not, the most likely cause is averaging across the two weeks or a workweek start day that does not match the one your employer uses. If overtime matches but gross pay does not, check whether a shift differential or bonus should have raised the overtime rate. Employers must keep time card records for two years under federal recordkeeping rules, so you can ask to see the punches they used.