How to fill out a time card

What a time card is for

A time card (in the UK and Australia usually called a timesheet) is the record of the hours you worked in a pay period. Your employer uses it to pay you; you can use it to check your pay. In the US, employers must keep records of hours worked each workday and each workweek for non-exempt employees, and the Department of Labor says any method of keeping time is fine as long as it is complete and accurate. A paper card, a punch clock and an app all work.

Step 1: fill in the header

Write your full name, your employee ID if you have one, your department or job, and the pay period or week starting date. If you have more than one job or rate, use a separate card for each. Check which day your workweek starts; it matters for overtime.

Step 2: record each day’s times

For each day you work, write:

1. Time in: when you started work.
2. Lunch out and lunch in: when an unpaid meal break started and ended.
3. Time out: when you finished.

Write times as they happened, with AM or PM, or use 24-hour time (13:30 instead of 1:30 PM) if your employer does. Record times at the moment, not from memory at the end of the week.

Step 3: subtract unpaid breaks

Only unpaid breaks come off. Under US federal rules, short breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes are paid work time and should not be subtracted. A real meal break, usually 30 minutes or more, when you are completely relieved of duty, is unpaid. If you worked through lunch, do not subtract it.

Step 4: total each day

For each block of work, subtract the start from the end; then add the blocks. Here is a real-looking day:

The 30-minute lunch (12:01 to 12:31) is not counted because it falls between the blocks. If your card has only In and Out columns plus a “Lunch” column, write the total minutes of lunch and subtract them instead. You get the same answer: 7:58 AM to 4:35 PM is 8 h 37 min, minus 30 min = 8 h 7 min.

Step 5: convert to decimal if your employer asks

Payroll often wants decimal hours. Divide the minutes by 60: 8 hours 7 minutes is 8 + 7 ÷ 60 = 8.12. The decimal hours chart lists every minute from 1 to 60. Do not write 8:07 as 8.07; that is a common and costly mistake.

Step 6: total the week and mark overtime

Add the day totals. If you are non-exempt in the US, hours over 40 in the workweek are overtime at 1.5 times your regular rate under federal law. Some states, such as California, also have daily overtime. The overtime calculator works it out for you.

Step 7: record leave and notes

Mark paid leave (vacation or PTO, holiday, sick) with its own code and hours, separate from hours worked. Add a short note for anything unusual: a missed punch, an early finish, travel between job sites, or a call-in.

Step 8: sign, date and submit

Check the totals, sign and date the card, and get your supervisor’s signature if required. Keep a copy or a photo. Submit it by your employer’s deadline.

Rounding: what your employer may do

Many time clocks round punches to the nearest 5, 6 or 15 minutes. US federal rules (29 CFR 785.48) accept this if, over time, it does not underpay employees for the time they actually work. With quarter-hour rounding, 7:53 AM becomes 8:00 AM and 8:07 AM becomes 8:00 AM, but 8:08 AM becomes 8:15 AM. Write the real time on your card; let the payroll system do any rounding.

Common mistakes

Night shifts and split shifts

For a shift from 10:00 PM to 6:30 AM, write it on the day it started; it is 8 h 30 min. For a split shift, use one line per block, or the extra punch rows on a calculator.

What employers keep

For each non-exempt worker, the Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet #21 lists records such as the employee’s full name, address and occupation, the time and day the workweek begins, hours worked each day and each workweek, the basis of pay and regular rate, straight-time and overtime earnings, deductions and additions, total wages paid each pay period, and the date of payment and the pay period covered. It says time cards should be kept for at least 2 years and payroll records for 3 years.

Templates and tools

Print a blank weekly time card, a biweekly timesheet or a monthly timesheet. Or fill in the online time card, which does the math, keeps your entries in this browser and prints a signable card.