Enter daily work hours to calculate total regular and overtime hours.
Gross Hours (Raw Sum):0.00
Total Unpaid Breaks (Hours):0.00
Net Payable Hours:0.00
Regular Hours:0.00
Overtime Hours:0.00
How to Calculate Payroll Hours
Calculating payroll hours accurately is essential for ensuring employees are paid fairly and businesses remain compliant with labor laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This process involves tracking daily hours, deducting unpaid breaks, and identifying overtime thresholds.
The Weekly Payroll Formula
The core logic used in our calculator follows these steps:
Total Daily Hours: Sum the hours worked each day of the workweek.
Deduct Breaks: Convert unpaid break minutes to decimal hours and subtract them from the daily total.
Identify Overtime: Compare the total net hours against your company's overtime threshold (usually 40 hours per week).
Example Calculation
Imagine an employee works the following schedule with a 30-minute unpaid break daily:
Monday – Friday: 9 hours per day
Unpaid Break: 0.5 hours per day (30 mins)
Step
Calculation
Result
Gross Hours
9 hours x 5 days
45.0 Hours
Total Breaks
0.5 hours x 5 days
2.5 Hours
Net Hours
45.0 – 2.5
42.5 Hours
Regular Hours
Limit to 40
40.0 Hours
Overtime Hours
42.5 – 40
2.5 Hours
Converting Minutes to Decimals
When calculating payroll, you must convert minutes to decimal form to multiply by hourly rates. Use this quick reference:
15 minutes = 0.25 hours
30 minutes = 0.50 hours
45 minutes = 0.75 hours
Common Payroll Pitfalls
Avoid these frequent mistakes when managing employee hours:
Rounding Errors: Ensure you are consistent in how you round time (e.g., to the nearest 15 minutes).
Unpaid vs. Paid Breaks: Short breaks (usually 5-20 minutes) are often required to be paid by law. Ensure only meal breaks of 30+ minutes are being deducted if they are truly unpaid.
State Laws: Some states, like California, require overtime calculations based on daily hours (over 8 in a day) rather than just weekly totals.
function calculatePayrollHours() {
// Get daily hours
var mon = parseFloat(document.getElementById('mon').value) || 0;
var tue = parseFloat(document.getElementById('tue').value) || 0;
var wed = parseFloat(document.getElementById('wed').value) || 0;
var thu = parseFloat(document.getElementById('thu').value) || 0;
var fri = parseFloat(document.getElementById('fri').value) || 0;
var sat = parseFloat(document.getElementById('sat').value) || 0;
var sun = parseFloat(document.getElementById('sun').value) || 0;
// Get settings
var breakMin = parseFloat(document.getElementById('break_min').value) || 0;
var otLimit = parseFloat(document.getElementById('ot_limit').value) || 40;
// Calculate count of days worked (to apply breaks)
var daysWorked = 0;
var dailyHours = [mon, tue, wed, thu, fri, sat, sun];
for (var i = 0; i 0) {
daysWorked++;
}
}
// Math Logic
var grossTotal = mon + tue + wed + thu + fri + sat + sun;
var breakHoursTotal = (breakMin * daysWorked) / 60;
var netPayable = Math.max(0, grossTotal – breakHoursTotal);
var regularHours = 0;
var otHours = 0;
if (netPayable > otLimit) {
regularHours = otLimit;
otHours = netPayable – otLimit;
} else {
regularHours = netPayable;
otHours = 0;
}
// Display Results
document.getElementById('res_gross').innerText = grossTotal.toFixed(2);
document.getElementById('res_breaks').innerText = breakHoursTotal.toFixed(2);
document.getElementById('res_net').innerText = netPayable.toFixed(2);
document.getElementById('res_reg').innerText = regularHours.toFixed(2);
document.getElementById('res_ot').innerText = otHours.toFixed(2);
document.getElementById('payrollResultArea').style.display = 'block';
}