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How to Interpret Quarter Hours

Quarter hours are exactly what they sound like -- one fourth of an hour, or 15 minutes. In the workplace, most employers pay their employees by rounding the actual number of minutes worked to the nearest quarter of an hour. Sometimes this can cause confusion when filling out time cards or when figuring out exactly how much time an employee should be paid for. However, federal labor laws specify exactly what counts as a quarter hour and what doesn't.

Instructions

- 1
  There are 60 minutes an hour. To determine the length of a quarter hour, divide 60 minutes by 4. The result is 15 minutes.
- 2
  Therefore, each 15 minutes worked represents one quarter of one hour.
- 3
  United States Department of Labor regulations specify that employers should round employee time to the nearest quarter hour. Employee time from 1 to 7 minutes may be rounded down and not counted as hours worked, but employee time from 8 to 14 minutes must be rounded up and counted as a quarter hour of work time.
- 4
  Note that employers may be in violation of labor laws if they always round down and don't count a segment of employee time between 8 and 14 minutes as being a full quarter hour.

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