Restaurant shifts mix breaks, tipped work, and overtime. Everhour turns schedule-based time into reviewable timesheet entries.
Enter your daily hours and rate to instantly calculate total hours, regular pay, and any overtime — no spreadsheet needed.
The calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
Measurement
Track your budget through time or costs
Every report you need — configured your way, always up to date.
Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
A restaurant time card answers how many paid hours belong in a workweek after clock-in and clock-out times, unpaid meal periods, paid short breaks, and permitted extra work are handled. For covered nonexempt restaurant employees, the federal overtime baseline starts after 40 hours worked in a fixed FLSA workweek, not after a single long shift.
Restaurant time cards also separate the facts payroll needs to treat different work correctly. Tipped occupation time, separate non-tipped work, service-charge distributions, minor employee limits, and state meal-break rules can change the pay review. The calculation should show paid regular hours, overtime hours, unpaid meal deductions, and any shift notes that explain why the total changed.
Start with gross shift time, subtract only unpaid bona fide meal periods, keep paid short breaks in the total, then add the paid hours for the fixed workweek. Covered nonexempt restaurant employees receive at least 1.5 times the regular rate for hours worked over 40 in that workweek. Federal law does not allow averaging hours across multiple workweeks to avoid overtime.
For example, a covered nonexempt restaurant line cook earns $16.50 per hour and records paid daily totals of 9, 8, 8, 10, 8, and 7 hours after valid unpaid meal periods. The weekly total is 50 paid hours. Regular pay is 40 hours at $16.50, or $660. Overtime pay is 10 hours at $24.75, or $247.50. Total gross wages are $907.50.
Meal deductions create the most common restaurant error. Federal law does not require adult restaurant meal or rest breaks, but a 30-minute meal period is generally unpaid only when the worker is completely relieved from duty. A server who rolls silverware, answers a guest question, or helps the expo line while eating is still working for FLSA hours-worked purposes.
Tipped work adds another review point. A tipped employee is one who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 per month in tips in the occupation where the tip credit is claimed. If a restaurant takes a tip credit, overtime cannot be calculated only from the reduced $2.13 federal cash wage, and distributed compulsory service charges must be included in the regular rate for overtime.
A one-off calculation is enough when you need to audit one shift, estimate one week of restaurant pay, or verify whether a meal deduction changes overtime. It also works for a quick manager check before submitting payroll, as long as the time card already separates paid breaks, unpaid meals, and tipped or non-tipped work.
A managed workflow becomes necessary when the same restaurant handles rotating shifts, split roles, minors, approvals, and payroll exports every week. Everhour can turn Google, Outlook, and iCloud calendar events into timesheet entries within a configurable time window, excluding all-day, recurring, and pre-connection events, so scheduled work can move into a reviewable time record before payroll.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
High Performer
G2
Summer 2026
Best Ease Of Use
Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
Covered nonexempt restaurant employees in the United States must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a fixed FLSA workweek. The overtime rate is at least one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay. The workweek is a fixed 168-hour period, and hours cannot be averaged across separate workweeks.
A restaurant can treat a bona fide meal period as unpaid only when the employee is completely relieved from duty. The meal period is generally 30 minutes or longer. A worker who performs duties while eating is still working, so that time belongs in paid hours and counts toward weekly overtime.
Short rest breaks provided by an employer, usually about 5 to 20 minutes, are generally compensable under federal law. Those minutes stay in paid time and count toward the weekly overtime total. Federal law does not require adult restaurant rest breaks, but state law or employer policy can create stricter requirements.
Tipped overtime cannot be calculated only from the reduced $2.13 federal cash wage when a restaurant takes a tip credit. Overtime uses the full minimum wage or the employee's regular rate, and the employer cannot take a larger tip credit for an overtime hour than for a straight-time hour.
Compulsory service charges, such as mandatory restaurant service fees, are not tips under the FLSA. Amounts distributed to employees from service charges must be included in the regular rate for overtime. A time card or payroll record should keep those amounts visible so overtime uses the correct pay base.
Everhour's calendar integration turns Google, Outlook, and iCloud calendar events into timesheet entries within a configurable 15-minute to 3-hour window. It excludes all-day, recurring, and pre-connection events, so managers can review schedule-based entries before payroll.
Connect restaurant schedules to reviewable time records before payroll. Everhour converts eligible calendar events into timesheet entries, giving managers cleaner weekly totals and fewer manual entry errors.
14-day free trial · No credit card · Cancel anytime
