From Clock Times to Paid Hours

Work hours are not the same as time on the clock — breaks sit inside the span but outside the pay. The standard sequence is: convert clock-in and clock-out to minutes past midnight, subtract to get the span, then subtract the unpaid break. A 9:00–5:30 shift with a 30-minute lunch yields 8.0 paid hours; with a 15-minute break it yields 8.25.

Overnight Shifts and the 24-Hour Wrap

Night shifts cross midnight, so a naive subtraction goes negative. Timekeeping convention fixes this by adding 24 hours whenever the clock-out reading is smaller than the clock-in reading — 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM becomes an 8-hour span, and the break deduction then applies normally. The calculator does this wrap automatically.

Overtime Starts at the Baseline

Overtime is defined relative to a standard day — typically 8 hours, adjustable in Advanced Options. Worked hours above the baseline are overtime; below are undertime. Weekly totals multiply the daily figure by days worked, giving a quick check against full-time thresholds and shift targets without a spreadsheet.