Frequently asked questions

Accrual means you earn paid time off gradually as you work instead of getting it all at once. Your employer picks a method — a set amount each pay period, an amount for every hour you work, a single yearly grant, or rates that step up with tenure — and your balance grows over time, minus whatever you use. This calculator runs every one of those methods and builds a running balance period by period, so you can see exactly how your number adds up rather than just a single total.

Take the yearly PTO amount and divide it by the number of pay periods in a year. For 120 hours (about three weeks) that is 120 ÷ 52 = 2.31 hours a week, 120 ÷ 26 = 4.62 hours every two weeks (biweekly), 120 ÷ 24 = 5.00 hours twice a month (semimonthly), or 120 ÷ 12 = 10.00 hours a month. The calculator keeps the full, unrounded figure internally, so a whole year of accruals adds back up to exactly 120 hours instead of drifting.

No — and mixing them up is the most common PTO mistake. Biweekly means every two weeks, which is 26 pay periods a year; semimonthly means twice a month, which is 24. The same yearly PTO splits into a different per-period amount on each schedule: 120 hours a year is 4.62 hours per biweekly period but 5.00 hours per semimonthly period. Using the wrong one throws your balance off all year, so the calculator keeps the two separate.

Divide the yearly PTO amount by the hours you work in a year. Against a standard 2,080-hour full-time year, 120 hours of PTO is 120 ÷ 2,080 = 0.0577 hours earned per hour worked. Some policies instead grant one hour of PTO for every N hours worked — for example, one hour per 30 worked comes to about 69 hours a year over 2,080 hours. If accrual is meant to exclude your two weeks of PTO, you can base it on 1,960 hours, which raises the rate to 0.0612 per hour.

At a 40-hour week, two weeks is 80 hours, three weeks is 120 hours, and four weeks is 160 hours a year. Spread over biweekly (26) pay periods that is 3.08, 4.62, and 6.15 hours per check; over semimonthly (24) periods it is 3.33, 5.00, and 6.67 hours. Enter your own yearly amount and pay schedule in the panel to see your exact per-period rate.

At a standard eight-hour workday, 120 hours is 15 days. The same math makes 80 hours 10 days, 160 hours 20 days, and 200 hours 25 days. If your workday is not eight hours, set your hours-per-day in the panel — or use the hours-to-days converter — and the day count adjusts.

There is no federal law setting a minimum, so it varies by employer. A common starting grant for full-time U.S. workers is about 10 days (80 hours) a year, often rising to roughly 15 days (120 hours) and then 20 days (160 hours) with longer tenure. The calculator works for any amount, including tenure tiers that raise the grant at service milestones, so you can model your own policy instead of relying on an average.

That depends on your policy and your state. Many policies let you carry a limited number of hours into the next year and forfeit anything above that carryover limit; some let everything roll over. The calculator applies your carryover limit at each year boundary, shows what carries and what would be forfeited, and lets the year reset on the calendar year, your hire anniversary, or a fiscal year. Where state law treats earned vacation as wages, it suppresses the forfeiture and keeps your full balance instead.

Usually yes — caps are common and generally legal, even in states that protect earned vacation, because a cap pauses future accrual rather than erasing time you have already earned. There are two kinds, and the calculator handles both: an annual accrual cap limits how much you can earn in a year and then resets, while a maximum-balance cap freezes accrual whenever your balance hits the ceiling and lets it resume once you use some time. (In Nebraska, the rules on caps are less settled.)

It depends on where you work. In most states an employer can run a use-it-or-lose-it policy as long as it is clearly disclosed. But California, Colorado, Montana, and Nebraska treat already-earned vacation as wages, so forfeiting time you have earned is generally not allowed there. Even in those states a reasonable cap that pauses future accrual is still permitted — it just cannot strip away what you have already banked. Set your state in the panel and the ledger adjusts. This is general information, not legal advice.

Several states require employers to pay out earned, unused vacation at separation — including California, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine (private employers with 11 or more employees), Massachusetts, North Dakota, and Rhode Island (after one year of service). A few others — Maryland, New York, and North Carolina — require it unless a written policy says otherwise. Many states, such as Texas and Florida, leave payout entirely to the employer's policy. The payout calculator estimates the dollar value and flags your state's rule.

Yes. A payout of unused PTO is treated as taxable wages, so it is subject to income and payroll taxes just like a paycheck — employers often withhold federal income tax at the flat 22% supplemental-wage rate, plus Social Security and Medicare. This calculator shows the pre-tax (gross) value of your balance, so your take-home will be lower. That is general information, not tax advice — check with your payroll department for your exact withholding.

It can, depending on your policy, and the calculator handles both. A new-hire waiting period (commonly 30, 60, or 90 days) delays the date accrual begins, so the schedule starts there rather than on your hire date. For a lump-sum policy, a mid-year start can be prorated by the months left in the year — starting in April, for example, grants about nine-twelfths of the yearly amount. Set the hire date, waiting period, and proration in the panel to match your situation.

With a lump-sum (or front-loaded) policy your full yearly PTO lands in your balance at the start of the year, so you can use it before you have technically earned it. With per-period accrual you earn it gradually — a slice each paycheck — so your available balance climbs through the year. The calculator supports both, plus per-hour and tenure-tier methods, and the ledger reflects whichever one your employer uses.

Yes on both. It is completely free, with no account and no email required, and every calculation runs locally in your browser — the hours, dates, and rates you enter are never sent to a server. You can print your ledger, download it as a CSV, or copy a shareable link that reloads your inputs.