How to Check If Your Paycheck Is Correct
Total your own hours for each workweek in the pay period, split them into regular and overtime hours, convert to decimal and multiply by your rates. Then compare every earnings line on the stub, not just the total hours. A stub can match your 80:25 total exactly and still be $23.18 short.
This is general information for US hourly workers, not legal or tax advice. Overtime, break and pay rules vary by state, contract and employer policy. The example below uses federal weekly overtime (1.5× after 40 hours in a workweek) so the math is clear.
What do you need before you start?
Three things, and the first one matters most:
- Your own record of hours. Start and end times for every day, with breaks. A note on your phone, a paper log or a time card app all work. Without your own record you can only check the stub's arithmetic, not whether its hours are right.
- The pay stub. You need the pay period dates and the earnings section: each line's hours, rate and amount.
- Your pay rules. Your hourly rate, how overtime is paid, and any differentials, rounding or automatic break deductions your employer uses.
How do you check your paycheck step by step?
- Match the pay period. Use the period start and end dates printed on the stub. Many employers pay a week or more after the period closes, so the hours on Friday's check may be from two weeks ago.
- Total each workweek in H:MM. Add the daily hours for each workweek separately, with unpaid breaks already out. Add in hours and minutes so the minutes carry correctly; how to add hours and minutes covers the method.
- Split regular and overtime hours by workweek. Federal overtime is counted per workweek, so each week's hours over 40 are overtime even if the other week in the period is short. A biweekly period is two separate weeks, not one 80-hour block.
- Convert to decimal hours. Divide the minutes by 60. Pay stubs print decimal hours, so this is the only way to compare like with like.
- Multiply by your rates and compare line by line. Regular hours × rate, overtime hours × 1.5 × rate, then any other lines. Check each line's hours, rate and amount against the stub.
- Raise any difference in writing. Send payroll the line that differs, your daily hours and your math. Keep a copy of both.
What does a real check look like?
Take an hourly worker at $21.50 an hour (overtime rate $32.25) on a biweekly schedule. Their own record, with unpaid lunches already subtracted:
| Day | Week 1 | Week 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 8:40 | 8:00 |
| Tuesday | 9:15 | 7:30 |
| Wednesday | 8:05 | 8:10 |
| Thursday | 8:50 | 6:20 |
| Friday | 7:45 | 7:50 |
| Week total | 42:35 | 37:50 |
The period total is 42:35 + 37:50 = 80:25. Now split by workweek:
- Week 1:
40:00regular,2:35overtime. - Week 2:
37:50regular, no overtime. - Period:
77:50regular (77.83 hours) and2:35overtime (2.58 hours).
What the paycheck should show:
- Regular:
77.8333 × $21.50 = $1,673.42 - Overtime:
2.5833 × $32.25 = $83.31 - Gross:
$1,756.73
Now the stub. It says:
| Earnings | Hours | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | 80.00 | $21.50 | $1,720.00 |
| Overtime | 0.42 | $32.25 | $13.55 |
| Gross | 80.42 | $1,733.55 |
The total hours match: 80.42 decimal hours is 80:25. Someone who only checks the total would stop here. But the split is wrong. Payroll counted overtime as everything over 80 in the two weeks, so only 0:25 (0.42) landed in overtime, and 2:10 of week-one overtime was paid at straight time. The check is $1,756.73 − $1,733.55 = $23.18 short.
Where the $23.18 comes from: 2:10 of hours missed the extra half-rate premium, 2.1667 × $10.75 = $23.29, and the stub's rounding of 0:25 up to 0.42 hours gives back $0.11.
This is the most common way a paycheck is wrong with every number on it still looking reasonable. For more on two-week periods, see how to calculate a biweekly timesheet.
Which lines on a pay stub should you compare?
Go down the earnings section one line at a time. This table shows what each line should match in your own record and what usually goes wrong:
| Stub line | Should equal | Common mismatch |
|---|---|---|
| Pay period dates | The dates your hours cover | Comparing to the wrong two weeks |
| Regular hours | Each workweek's hours up to 40, added together | Overtime hours left in the regular line |
| Overtime hours | Each workweek's hours over 40, added together | Counted over 80 per period instead of 40 per week |
| Hourly rate | Your current rate | Raise not applied yet, or applied from the wrong date |
| Overtime rate | 1.5 × your regular rate | Differential or bonus left out of the regular rate |
| Differential or premium | The hours inside the differential window | Whole shift, or none of it, coded to the differential |
| PTO or holiday hours | Hours you took or were owed | Missing, or counted toward the 40-hour overtime threshold |
| Gross pay | The sum of every earnings line | Arithmetic is rarely wrong; the hours feeding it are |
If you earn a differential, how to calculate shift differential pay shows how it changes the overtime rate.
How do you read the hours on a pay stub?
Almost every payroll system prints hours as decimals. 80.42 is 80 hours and 25 minutes, because 0.42 × 60 = 25.2 minutes. It is not 80 hours and 42 minutes. To go the other way, divide your minutes by 60: 2:35 = 2 + 35 ÷ 60 = 2.58.
Mixing the two formats gives a false result in either direction. Type the example weeks into a phone calculator as 42.35 + 37.50 and you get 79.85, which would make it look as though the stub overpaid you by more than half an hour. The real total, 80:25, matches the stub. What are decimal hours explains the conversion in full.
Why would a paycheck show fewer hours than you worked?
If the hours themselves are short, compare day by day until you find the day that differs. The usual causes:
- An automatic meal-break deduction for a break you worked through. Paid vs unpaid breaks covers how to spot it.
- A missed or edited punch, such as a shift closed at a default time. See how to fix a missed punch.
- Punch rounding to the nearest 5, 6 or 15 minutes. Over many shifts, rounding should roughly even out; if it always favors one side, that is worth raising. See timesheet rounding rules.
- A payroll cutoff, where the last day or two of the period are paid on the next check. They should appear there; if they never do, that is a real shortfall.
Should you check gross pay or net pay?
Gross first. Gross pay is the part your hours and rates control, and it is the part you can rebuild exactly. Net pay also depends on tax withholding, retirement and benefit deductions, and garnishments, which change for reasons that have nothing to do with your hours. Once gross is right, check deductions separately against your benefit elections and withholding form, and compare the year-to-date column with your last stub to make sure nothing jumped.
What should you do if your paycheck is wrong?
Most errors are honest and get fixed quickly once someone can see the math. Make it easy for them:
- Write down the stub line that differs, what it shows and what you expected.
- Attach your daily hours for the period and the calculation, like the example above.
- Send it to payroll or your manager in writing and keep a copy, along with the stub.
If it is not resolved, the US Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division and state labor departments accept wage complaints. Deadlines and remedies differ by state, which is one more reason to raise it early.
Keep your own record, then check in a minute
Hours adds each day in H:MM with the carry handled for you (8:40 + 9:15 + 8:05 + 8:50 + 7:45 = 42:35), shows the total in decimal hours with one tap (42.58), and turns hours and your rate into pay. Saved history keeps every week, and you can export a CSV or PDF timesheet to send with a payroll question. Free, offline, no ads, no tracking, no sign-in.
Frequently asked questions
How do I read the hours on my pay stub?
Pay stubs almost always show hours in decimal, not hours and minutes. 80.42 hours means 80 hours and 25 minutes (0.42 × 60 = 25.2), not 80 hours and 42 minutes. Multiply the decimal part by 60 to get minutes.
Why does my paycheck show fewer hours than I worked?
The usual causes are an automatic meal-break deduction for a break you did not take, a missed or edited punch, punch rounding, or hours from the last days of the period carried into the next paycheck because of a payroll cutoff. Compare day by day to find which one it is.
Is overtime calculated per pay period or per week?
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime for non-exempt employees is based on hours over 40 in each workweek, not over 80 in a two-week pay period. Some hospitals and residential care employers may use a separate 8-and-80 arrangement, and some states add daily overtime rules, so check the rules that apply to you.
Should I check gross pay or net pay?
Check gross pay first, because it is the part your hours control. Net pay also depends on tax withholding, benefits and other deductions, which you check separately against your elections and your W-4.
What should I do if my paycheck is wrong?
Tell payroll or your manager in writing, with your daily hours, the stub line that differs and your calculation, and keep copies. If it is not resolved, the US Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division and state labor departments accept wage complaints.