The written companions to the calculators: every guide works its math by hand so you can check the tool, and your pay stub, against it.
Eight guides, one habit: show the arithmetic. Each piece below takes a question the calculators answer instantly, slows it down, and walks it step by step with real numbers, the federal rule behind it, and the mistakes that show up on actual timesheets. None of them assume you enjoy this. They assume you have a pay stub in one hand and a suspicion in the other. Start with hours worked if you're auditing a paycheck for the first time; start with the 2026 dataset if you just need a sourced number to cite.
Subtract start time from end time, deduct unpaid breaks, and convert minutes to decimals. Step-by-step formula with examples for daily and weekly totals. Start here. It is the guide for the day a pay stub and your own count refuse to agree.
Read →Time and a half = regular rate x 1.5 x overtime hours. Federal law requires it after 40 hours per week. See examples for hourly and salaried workers, including how a bonus changes the regular rate.
Read →Divide minutes by 60 to get the decimal. 15 min = 0.25, 30 min = 0.50, 45 min = 0.75. Full conversion chart and worked examples for payroll, plus the common entry errors that compound into real underpayment over a year.
Read →A full-time year is 2,080 hours (40 hrs x 52 weeks). After holidays and PTO it is closer to 1,800-2,000. See the breakdown by month, quarter, and employment type, with the arithmetic behind each figure.
Read →Biweekly means paid every other week: 26 paychecks in most years, 27 in some. Twice a year, one month delivers a third check. The guide explains why, and compares biweekly against semimonthly, weekly, and monthly schedules.
Read →Subtract unpaid lunch from gross hours: 9:00 to 5:00 minus 30-min lunch = 7.5 hours. Step-by-step method with examples and legal rules on paid vs. unpaid breaks, including automatic deductions that outrun reality.
Read →Durations, decimal hours, military time and time zones in one place, with a single worked shift carried through all four conversions. Ends with the quarter-hour rounding rule and a fixed order for auditing a pay period.
Read →The current BLS average workweek and the federal overtime threshold, each pinned to its observation date and named release. Includes a downloadable CSV, so the number you cite traces to a source instead of a rumor.
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