Employee Timesheet Template and FLSA Record Rules

Download: weekly employee timesheet (CSV). It opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets.

A weekly spreadsheet is a perfectly legal way to keep hours. The Department of Labor's own fact sheet says the Fair Labor Standards Act "requires no particular form for the records" and that employers "may use any timekeeping method they choose." What the law does fix is the content: hours each day, the total for each workweek, and the pay figures that follow from them. This template is built on that list.

For whom: an owner or office manager with a few hourly, non-exempt employees. Not for: an employer whose state adds its own record rules (check your state labor department), or a team that needs approvals and payroll exports every week; see our pick below.

What the template records, and why

The fact sheet lists fourteen items in all. The others (Social Security number, address, birth date if under 19, straight-time and overtime earnings, additions and deductions, total wages and date of payment) belong in the payroll record rather than on a weekly timesheet, so the template leaves them out. Keep them in payroll.

The overtime line follows the federal rule: covered non-exempt employees get overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek, which is why the workweek start must be fixed and written down. Some states count overtime differently; check yours.

How long to keep it

Fact Sheet 21 asks employers to keep payroll records for at least three years and the records behind wage computations, such as time cards and wage-rate tables, for two years. A spreadsheet timesheet is a time card for this purpose. Save each week as its own file or tab, and do not overwrite a past week to fix it: write the correction in the note column with who made it and when.

Fixed schedules

If an employee works a fixed schedule, Fact Sheet 21 allows a lighter record, but not a blank one: keep the exact schedule of daily and weekly hours, indicate that the employee actually followed it, and record the actual hours whenever they differ. With the template, write the schedule once at the top of the week, add a line such as "Worked the schedule above except as noted" for the employee to sign or initial, fill in times only on the days that differed, and still complete the daily hours and the weekly total so the overtime line can be checked.

Our pick: the template, until it costs you time

Use the template for up to about five hourly employees when one person checks every sheet each week. It is free, it keeps the required fields in front of you, and there is no software for staff to learn.

Switch to Clockify's free plan when re-typing sheets into payroll takes longer than the payroll itself: its free plan covers up to five users. Past five people, or once a manager must approve hours before payroll, the next step is a paid plan; Clockify's first paid plan is $3.99 per seat a month billed annually, and timesheet approval starts on its Standard plan. See what time tracking software costs.

Who should skip both: an employer that needs GPS or photo clock-in for field staff; see GPS time tracking and employee notice. For rounding rules on punches, see time rounding and corrections.