Guides · 16 articles
Work hours & payroll, explained properly.
Every guide answers its question in the first paragraph, shows the math with real numbers, and links the official source — DOL fact sheets and state labor agencies, not hearsay.
Overtime
How to Calculate Overtime Pay
Calculate overtime pay step by step: find the regular rate, count hours over 40, apply time and a half, and handle bonuses.
Overtime
No Tax on Overtime Deduction
The No Tax on Overtime deduction explained: what qualifies, the $12,500 / $25,000 caps, the income phaseout, what is still taxed, and how to estimate your savings.
Overtime
What Is Time and a Half?
Time and a half means 1.5 times your regular rate. Learn when it applies, how to calculate it and how it differs from double time.
Overtime
California Overtime Rules
California overtime explained: daily overtime after 8 hours, double time after 12, 7th-day rules and worked examples.
Overtime
Federal Overtime Rules
A plain-English guide to federal overtime law: the 40-hour workweek, the 1.5× rate, who is exempt, what the regular rate includes, and how states can add more.
Overtime
Overtime vs Double Time
Learn the difference between overtime, time and a half, and double time, including when each applies and worked pay examples.
Overtime
Common Overtime Mistakes
The overtime errors that quietly underpay workers: averaging two weeks, using the base rate instead of the regular rate, ignoring bonuses, miscounting hours, and more.
Overtime
How Is Overtime Calculated?
Federal overtime explained: who qualifies, how the 40-hour workweek works, regular rate rules and time-and-a-half examples.
Work hours
How to Calculate Hours Worked
The exact method payroll uses to calculate hours worked: subtract times, deduct unpaid breaks, convert minutes to decimals, and apply overtime — with worked examples.
Overtime
Salary and Overtime Pay
Learn when salaried employees get overtime, how exempt status works and how to convert salary to an hourly rate.
Overtime
Overtime Pay Examples
Six worked overtime calculations: hourly, bonus, two rates, salary, California daily overtime and the No Tax on Overtime deduction.
Payroll
Weekly vs Biweekly Payroll
Compare weekly, biweekly, semimonthly and monthly payroll: paycheck counts, overtime handling, cash flow and team fit.
Compliance
Lunch Break Laws by State
Which states require lunch breaks, how long they must be, when breaks are paid vs unpaid, and what to do when an auto-deducted lunch was actually worked.
Payroll
Minutes to Decimal Hours Chart
Why 8:30 on a time clock becomes 8.50 on a pay stub: the minutes-to-decimal conversion, the full chart, rounding rules and the classic 8.30 ≠ 8:30 mistake.
Best practices
Common Timesheet Mistakes
The timesheet errors that actually change paychecks: decimal slips, averaged overtime, auto-deducted lunches, missing splits and rounding abuse — with fixes.
Best practices
Time Tracking Best Practices
A simple time-tracking system for small teams: what to record, how to handle breaks and overtime, and when to upgrade.
Theory's done — check your actual hours.
The free time card calculator applies everything in these guides: breaks, state overtime, decimals and pay.