The columns, one by one
| Date / day | The workday. Your employer's workweek begins on a fixed day and time, which should be clear from the sheet. |
| Time in / time out | When you started and stopped work. Check each against what you actually did. |
| Break / lunch | Unpaid meal time deducted from the day. Paid rest breaks are not deducted. |
| Regular hours | Hours at the normal rate. |
| Overtime hours | Hours above the overtime threshold, paid at a higher rate. |
| PTO / holiday / sick | Paid time not worked. It is paid, but it is not “hours worked” and may be treated differently for overtime. |
| Total | Weekly or period total. Check whether it is in hours:minutes or decimals. |
What employers must record
The federal recordkeeping regulation for employees covered by the minimum wage and overtime provisions (29 CFR 516.2) requires employers to keep records that include the time of day and day of week on which the employee's workweek begins; the hours worked each workday and the total hours worked each workweek; the regular hourly rate for any workweek in which overtime is due; total daily or weekly straight-time earnings; total premium pay for overtime hours; total wages paid each pay period; and the date of payment and pay period covered. Your timesheet should support those numbers, and your pay stub should match them.
How to verify a timesheet in five checks
- Daily math. Out minus in minus break equals the daily hours. Do two or three days by hand.
- Decimal vs minutes. 8:30 is 8.5, not 8.30. If the sheet shows 8.30 and you worked 8:30, you were shorted 12 minutes.
- Weekly total. Add the days. Compare with the sheet.
- Overtime. Hours above 40 in the workweek (and daily thresholds in some states) should show at the overtime rate.
- Pay. Hours times rate, plus the overtime premium, should equal gross pay on the stub.
Worked example: reading and checking a sheet
Weekly sheet, $21.00 an hour
| Day | In | Out | Break | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 7:00 am | 3:30 pm | 30 | 8:00 |
| Tue | 7:00 am | 4:30 pm | 30 | 9:00 |
| Wed | 7:00 am | 5:30 pm | 30 | 10:00 |
| Thu | 7:00 am | 5:00 pm | 30 | 9:30 |
| Fri | 7:00 am | 4:00 pm | 30 | 8:30 |
Total: 8:00 + 9:00 + 10:00 + 9:30 + 8:30 = 45:00. Under the federal weekly rule that is 40 regular hours and 5 overtime hours. Pay = 40 × $21 + 5 × $31.50 = $840 + $157.50 = $997.50. If the pay stub shows 45 hours at straight time ($945.00), the overtime premium of $52.50 is missing and worth asking about. Verify by entering the sheet into the time card calculator.
Keeping your own record
Photograph or copy your sheet each period, or keep a simple log of your actual punches. If you dispute anything later, your own contemporaneous record is useful evidence. The printable timesheet is a ready-made template.
Common pay codes you may see
| Code | Usually means | Worth checking |
|---|---|---|
| REG | Regular hours at the base rate | Capped at 40 per workweek for federal overtime |
| OT / OT1 | Overtime hours at 1.5x | Hours over 40 in the workweek (or the state daily threshold) |
| DT / OT2 | Double time hours | Only in states or contracts that require it |
| PTO / VAC | Paid time off | Paid, but not hours worked |
| HOL | Paid holiday | Rate and whether it counts toward overtime |
| SICK | Paid sick leave | Accrual balance |
Codes vary by employer and payroll system; your payroll department can supply the legend.
Reading a bi-weekly timesheet
A bi-weekly sheet has 14 days and two workweek totals. Check each week against 40 hours separately, because overtime is figured weekly. A sheet that shows only a 14-day total with overtime computed on 80 hours is not following the federal workweek rule. Mismatches between the sheet and the stub usually come from one of five places: a missed punch, a meal deduction, rounding, the wrong workweek boundary or an overtime rate not applied.
Hours-only and project timesheets
Some timesheets list only hours per day (no clock times) or hours per project. These are fine for pay if hours are accurate, but without times they are harder to audit. If you can, keep a private note of your actual start and end times, particularly for days when you leave early, work through a break or start before the scheduled time.
When to ask payroll a question
Ask when any total is off by more than a few minutes after you account for rounding, when overtime is missing for a week over 40 hours, when a punch was edited without your knowledge, or when a pay code is unfamiliar. Bring the dates, your own totals and the figure on the stub. Being specific gets a faster answer than a general complaint that the hours look wrong.