Clock time is not decimal time
The most common timesheet error in the world is writing 8.30 when you mean 8 hours 30 minutes. Payroll reads that as 8 hours 18 minutes, and you lose twelve minutes of pay per shift — about an hour a week.
Time is base 60 and money is base 10, and the conversion between them has to be explicit. This calculator shows both formats side by side for exactly that reason.
Overnight shifts, breaks and rounding
- Overnight shifts. When the end time is earlier than the start time — 22:00 to 06:00 — the shift crosses midnight and 24 hours must be added. The calculator detects this automatically.
- Unpaid breaks. In the US, breaks under 20 minutes are generally paid under the FLSA, while genuine meal breaks of 30 minutes or more, where you are relieved of duty, are typically unpaid. Rules differ by state and by country.
- Rounding. US employers may round to the nearest quarter hour provided the rounding is neutral over time and does not systematically favour the employer. Consistently rounding down is not lawful.
Keeping a timesheet that survives a dispute
Payroll disputes are usually won on records rather than arguments, and under US law the burden of keeping accurate records sits with the employer — which works in your favour if you have your own notes and they do not.
- Record daily, not weekly. Contemporaneous notes carry far more weight than a reconstruction made a month later.
- Log start, end and every break, to the minute. “About eight hours” is not a record.
- Note work outside the shift. Answering messages, opening up early, staying to close, mandatory training and travel between sites are frequently compensable and almost always unlogged.
- Keep it somewhere you control. A personal note or spreadsheet, not only the company system.
- Check the payslip against your record every period. Small recurring errors are easy to miss and add up quickly.
What ten unlogged minutes a day is worth
Ten minutes daily is 43 hours a year. At $22 an hour that is $946 — more than most people would ever leave on a table knowingly.
Two related points worth knowing. Rounding to the nearest quarter hour is lawful in the US only if it is neutral over time; consistently rounding down in the employer’s favour is not. And “off the clock” work that the employer knows about is generally compensable even if it was never authorised.
Overtime rules in brief
Under the US Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees receive at least 1.5× their regular rate for hours beyond 40 in a workweek. Several states add daily thresholds — California requires overtime beyond 8 hours in a day and double time beyond 12. The European Working Time Directive approaches the problem differently, capping average weekly hours at 48 rather than mandating a premium.
Keep your own record of hours. If your times and your employer's differ, contemporaneous personal notes carry real weight — and under US law the employer, not the employee, bears the burden of maintaining accurate records.