These guides focus on decisions a calculator cannot make for you: which records to use, what a policy term means, where a counting rule starts, and how to reconcile an estimate with an official source.
Work-hours guideA practical guide to calculating work hours from clock times, unpaid breaks, overnight shifts, rounding policies, and weekly records.
Read guideOvertime guideUnderstand the inputs behind an overtime-pay estimate, including workweeks, regular rates, thresholds, multipliers, and common reconciliation mistakes.
Read guidePay-schedule guideCompare biweekly and semimonthly pay schedules, understand 26 versus 24 pay periods, and avoid common paycheck-comparison mistakes.
Read guidePaid-leave guideLearn how common PTO accrual methods work, what information to collect, and how to reconcile projected leave with payroll or HR records.
Read guideDeadline guideCount business-day deadlines with clear start-date, end-date, weekend, holiday, closure, and time-zone assumptions.
Read guideHow these guides are prepared
Each guide is written for a distinct practical task, reviewed alongside the related calculator behavior, and explicit about assumptions and limitations. When a factual claim depends on an outside authority, the guide links to the relevant primary source. See Accuracy & testing for the site's maintenance approach.