Time card and overtime guides

The rules behind the numbers on a time card. Each guide covers one question hourly workers and small employers ask about hours and pay, with the federal rule, the state differences that matter, worked examples, and links to the regulations. They are general information, not legal advice; for a specific pay dispute, your state labor department or the U.S. Department of Labor can help.

• Time clock rounding rules and the 7 minute rule

  Employers may round punches to 5, 6 or 15 minutes, but only if the rounding is neutral. How it works and when it crosses the line.

• States with daily overtime

  Federal overtime is weekly. A few states also pay overtime after a set number of hours in a single day.

• Are lunch breaks paid?

  Short breaks are paid time. A real meal break usually is not. Where the line falls, and which states require breaks at all.

• How to calculate hours worked

  Five steps from clock times to payroll hours, with the three mistakes that most often go wrong.

• How to fill out a time card

  What goes in each column, how to record lunch and missed punches, and how to keep a copy that will settle any pay question.

• Regular rate of pay and overtime

  Overtime is 1.5 times the regular rate, and the regular rate can be higher than your hourly wage. How bonuses and differentials change it.

• Military time chart for time cards

  Every hour in 24 hour time next to its AM/PM equivalent, and how to total a shift written in military time.

• Biweekly vs semi-monthly pay

  26 paychecks or 24. How the two schedules differ for hourly workers, salaried workers and overtime.

• What is a workweek?

  Overtime is counted per workweek, not per calendar week or pay period. What the legal workweek is and why its start day matters.

• Double time pay

  Twice the regular rate. Federal law never requires it; one state does, and many contracts do.

• How long employers must keep time records

  Two years for time cards, three for payroll records under federal law. What must be kept and how to ask for yours.

• Comp time vs overtime pay

  Public employers can give time off instead of overtime pay. Private employers generally cannot. The rules on each side.

• Unpaid overtime and off the clock work

  What counts as time worked, how to check whether overtime was paid, and the steps if it was not.