Record elapsed time before converting it
A timesheet should preserve the start, finish and unpaid break that produced each total. Decimal hours are useful for pay calculations, but they can hide a simple transcription mistake. The work hours calculator shows both hours-and-minutes and decimal-hour totals.
Seven hours thirty minutes is 7.5 hours, not 7.30. Divide the minute part by sixty: fifteen minutes is 0.25 hours, thirty is 0.5 and forty-five is 0.75. Keeping clock inputs until the calculation avoids treating a time-like number as a decimal.
Deduct only unpaid breaks
An unpaid break reduces paid working time in this model. A paid break remains included. Entering every break as an unpaid deduction would therefore understate the result when some breaks are paid.
For a 09:00–17:00 shift with a thirty-minute unpaid lunch, the net is seven hours thirty minutes. Five such shifts total thirty-seven hours thirty minutes. If a break is longer than its shift, the input needs correction rather than a negative working duration.
Mark the next day explicitly
A 22:00–06:00 shift needs the overnight option; otherwise the finish appears to precede the start. This tool assigns the entire shift to the day it begins. It does not split time at a payroll week boundary or interpret time-zone and daylight-saving changes.
Multiple shifts must not overlap. An entered break has a duration but no position on the timeline, so it does not make two overlapping shift spans valid.
Apply the rule you intend to test
Daily and weekly overtime thresholds are user inputs. When both are selected, the model allocates daily overtime first, then applies the weekly threshold to remaining regular time. It does not stack two premiums on the same hour.
Check which rule applies to the actual records before relying on a pay estimate. The salary calculator compares schedules and leave; the pay raise calculator compares base-pay changes. Neither replaces the terms of a payroll agreement.