How to report partial hours when certifying for EDD benefits - minutes vs decimals?

You need to convert the minutes into a decimal. It's not 5.45 for 5 hours and 45 minutes - that would be incorrect. For EDD reporting, you need to divide the minutes by 60 to get the decimal equivalent. So for 5 hours and 45 minutes: 5 hours + (45/60) = 5 + 0.75 = 5.75 hours For 3 hours and 20 minutes: 3 hours + (20/60) = 3 + 0.33 = 3.33 hours The EDD system accepts two decimal places, so you would report 5.75 and 3.33 respectively. Always round to the nearest hundredth if needed.

what about if your employer rounds to the nearest quarter hour on your timesheet? do you have to convert that too or just use what's on your paystub?

I certify for benefits every 2 weeks & have always reported my hours in decimals. I just use a calculator to convert minutes to decimals by dividing by 60. For your examples: 45 mins ÷ 60 = 0.75, so 5 hrs 45 mins = 5.75 hrs. And 20 mins ÷ 60 = 0.33, so 3 hrs 20 mins = 3.33 hrs. This is super important to get right because EDD will check this against employer reporting. I always take screenshots of my calculations just in case I need to explain later.

When i had to report my hours to EDD i just rounded evrything to the nearest quarter hour. So 5:45 would be 5.75 and 3:20 would be 3.25. never had any problems. the key is to be consistent wiht how u do it every time.

I ran into this EXACT issue last month and it was driving me CRAZY!! The EDD system is so outdated and confusing. I ended up calling EDD because I was terrified of making a mistake and getting accused of fraud or something. Took me 3 DAYS of constant redialing to get through!!! If anyone else needs to talk to an actual EDD rep about this or other certification issues, I finally found a service called Claimyr that got me through to an EDD agent in less than 25 minutes! It's at claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km The agent confirmed what others said - convert minutes to decimals by dividing by 60. So glad I got that cleared up because I was reporting incorrectly before!

@user7 Yes! That's exactly the message I kept getting too. The service actually does work - it basically auto-dials for you until it gets through the queue. Saved me from having to manually redial 100+ times.

To answer the follow-up question about rounding - EDD's system accepts two decimal places, so you should round to the nearest hundredth (two decimal places). For example: 3 hours 20 minutes = 3.33 hours (because 20/60 = 0.333... rounded to 0.33) If you're ever unsure, you can always slightly round up rather than down. It's better to report a tiny bit more than you worked than to underreport, as underreporting could lead to fraud allegations.

wait im confused still. so if i work 2 hours and 15 minutes is that 2.15 or 2.25?? and does it matter if i just put 2.2 or 2.3? will i get in trouble for this?

FYI - I remember my orientation when I first filed for unemployment, they said just round to the nearest quarter hour to keep it simple (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, etc). That's what most employers do for payroll anyway.

Thank you all for the explanations! I think I've got it now - divide minutes by 60 to convert to decimals. I'll keep track of my exact hours and convert properly going forward. Seems like the consensus is to be as accurate as possible with two decimal places, but small differences from rounding to the nearest quarter hour are generally okay too as long as I'm consistent. Really appreciate all the help!

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet - if you're using a smartphone, there are some helpful apps that can do the time conversion for you automatically. I use one called "Time Calculator" that lets me input hours and minutes and it spits out the decimal equivalent. Really handy when you're certifying and don't want to mess up the math, especially if you have multiple shifts with different hour combinations throughout the week. Just make sure whatever method you use, keep it consistent across all your certifications like others have said!

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who's been on partial unemployment for almost 8 months now. I work irregular retail shifts and the decimal conversion was super confusing at first too! What really helped me was creating a simple cheat sheet on my phone with common time conversions: 15 min = 0.25 30 min = 0.50 45 min = 0.75 5 min = 0.08 10 min = 0.17 20 min = 0.33 25 min = 0.42 35 min = 0.58 40 min = 0.67 50 min = 0.83 55 min = 0.92 I keep this saved in my notes app so I can quickly reference it when certifying. For odd minutes like 37 or 43, I just use the calculator method (divide by 60) that others mentioned. Haven't had any issues with EDD and it makes the whole process way less stressful!

Pro tip from someone who's been doing this for over a year - I actually keep a small notebook where I write down my daily hours in both formats (like "4:30 = 4.5 hours") right when I clock out each day. That way when it's time to certify, I don't have to try to remember or dig through old timesheets and do math under pressure. Also, if you're ever worried about accuracy, remember that your employer reports your hours to the state too, so there's a built-in check system. As long as you're being honest and consistent with your conversions, you should be fine. The EDD is more concerned about people who don't report work at all than small rounding differences from legitimate time conversions. One last thing - if you ever do make a mistake on a certification, you can usually call to correct it before it becomes a bigger issue. Don't panic if you realize you converted something wrong after submitting!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I just started a part-time job while on unemployment and was making the same mistake of thinking 5 hours 45 minutes = 5.45. The decimal conversion makes so much more sense now - divide minutes by 60. One thing I'm still wondering about though - what if my shift times don't line up perfectly with what my employer reports? Like sometimes I clock in a few minutes early or stay a few minutes late to help a customer, but my official timesheet might be rounded differently. Should I report my actual worked time or what's on my official timesheet that gets sent to payroll? Also loving the cheat sheet idea from @Caleb Bell - definitely saving those common conversions to my phone!

This is exactly the kind of detailed info I wish I had when I first started working part-time on unemployment! The conversion formula is straightforward once you get it - just divide minutes by 60. But honestly, keeping that cheat sheet handy like @Caleb Bell suggested is genius. One additional tip - if you use a time tracking app on your phone for personal use, many of them can export your hours in decimal format automatically. I started using one called Toggl when I began my part-time job and it saves the conversion step entirely. You just start/stop the timer when you begin/end work and it calculates everything for you. Also want to echo what others said about consistency being key. Whether you round to nearest quarter hour or calculate exact decimals, just pick one method and stick with it. EDD cares way more about honesty and consistency than they do about whether you reported 3.33 vs 3.25 hours.