How do I convert hours and minutes to decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60 and add to the hours. Seven hours 30 minutes is 7.5; seven hours 20 minutes is 7.333. This matters because payroll multiplies decimal hours by an hourly rate — entering 7.20 for seven hours twenty minutes overpays or underpays, and it is one of the most common payroll errors. Minutes and decimals only coincide at 0, 15, 30 and 45.
How should unpaid breaks be handled?
Deduct them from the shift total before calculating pay. A shift from 09:00 to 17:30 with a 30-minute unpaid lunch is 8 hours, not 8.5. Rules vary by jurisdiction: short rest breaks are often paid while meal breaks are not, and some places require a break after a set number of hours. Record actual break times rather than assuming, because a break not taken may still be payable.
How does overtime work?
In the US, the Fair Labor Standards Act requires 1.5 times the regular rate beyond 40 hours in a workweek, and some states add daily overtime — California pays it beyond 8 hours in a day and double time beyond 12. Other countries calculate weekly, fortnightly or on averaged reference periods. Because the rules differ so much, enter your own overtime threshold rather than assuming 40 hours applies.
What is the right way to round clock times?
Rounding is permitted in many jurisdictions but must be neutral — it cannot systematically favour the employer. US practice allows rounding to the nearest quarter hour under the seven-minute rule: 1–7 minutes rounds down, 8–14 rounds up. Always rounding down is unlawful. The safest approach is not to round at all, which modern timekeeping makes easy.
How do I handle a shift crossing midnight?
Add 24 hours to the end time before subtracting: a shift from 22:00 to 06:00 is 06:00 plus 24, minus 22:00, giving 8 hours. Also check which day the hours belong to for overtime purposes, since employers differ on whether a night shift counts against the starting or ending day — that choice can change whether daily overtime is triggered.
How long should I keep timesheet records?
The FLSA requires US employers to keep payroll records for three years and the underlying time records for two. Other jurisdictions commonly require three to seven years. Employees benefit from keeping their own copies too: in a wage dispute, contemporaneous personal records carry real weight, particularly where the employer's records are incomplete.