Biweekly time card calculator

Why each week is counted separately

A biweekly paycheck covers two workweeks, but overtime is decided one workweek at a time. If you work 50 hours in week 1 and 30 hours in week 2, you still earn 10 overtime hours, even though the two-week total is exactly 80. Source: 29 CFR 778.104.

Biweekly time card with lunch breaks

Pick how you take lunch with Unpaid breaks at the top of the card:

• Minutes per day: one In and one Out time a day, plus the unpaid break minutes, such as 30.
• Lunch out and in times: four punches a day, In, Lunch out, Lunch in and Out, for both weeks. The time between Lunch out and Lunch in is left out of the day's hours.
• Lunch times + other breaks: the same four punches, plus a Break min column for any other unpaid break, such as a second 30-minute meal on a long shift. Both are taken off.

On a day without lunch, leave the lunch times empty. Copy Monday to all weekdays copies the lunch punches too, and the Punch in button stamps Start lunch and End lunch as you go. For a single week, the time card calculator with lunch works the same way, and the clock out calculator shows what time to clock out today. For a paper card, the biweekly time card template prints both weeks, with or without lunch columns and a total for each week. For a crew that signs in on paper each day, use an employee sign-in sheet and copy each person's days onto their card.

How overtime is calculated

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, nonexempt employees must be paid at least one and a half times their regular rate for every hour over 40 in a workweek. A workweek is a fixed period of seven consecutive days, and each week stands on its own: hours are not averaged across a two-week pay period. The workweek can start on any day, so set Week starts on under Card settings to match your employer's. There is no federal overtime for long single days. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, 29 CFR 778.104 and 778.105.

California adds daily rules. Time and a half applies after 8 hours in a workday, after 40 hours in a workweek, and for the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day worked in a workweek. Double time applies after 12 hours in a workday and after 8 hours on that seventh day. Choose California rules to apply them, or open the California overtime calculator, which starts with them. Source: California Labor Commissioner.

Other places set different limits. To change the weekly limit, keep Over 40 hours a week and edit Weekly overtime after under Card settings; Ontario, for example, uses 44 hours. Where overtime also starts after a set number of hours in one day, choose Daily and weekly limits.

Which breaks to subtract

Enter only unpaid breaks. Under federal rules, short rest breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes count as hours worked, while a bona fide meal period, usually 30 minutes or more with no duties, does not. Some states require meal or rest breaks, and your employer's policy decides whether a meal break is paid. Source: 29 CFR 785.18 and 785.19.

If you clock out for lunch and also take another unpaid break, such as a second meal on a long shift, choose Lunch times + other breaks under Unpaid breaks. The card takes off the time between your lunch punches and the minutes you type in Break min.

Questions