California Overtime Laws

Most nonexempt employees in California may earn overtime in more than one way. Working more than eight hours in a single workday can create overtime, even when the employee works fewer than 40 hours for the entire week.

Weekly overtime may also apply once an employee works more than 40 hours in a workweek.

These are the general rules. Some occupations, employment arrangements and properly adopted alternative workweek schedules follow different rules.

A nonexempt employee who works more than eight hours in one workday earns time-and-a-half for the extra hours.

For example, suppose an employee earns $20 per hour and works 10 hours on Monday.

The first eight hours are paid at the regular $20 hourly rate. The remaining two hours would be paid at $30 per hour, which is one and one-half times the regular rate.

For most nonexempt employees, double time begins after more than 12 hours of work in one workday.

An employee earning $20 per hour would have a double-time rate of $40 per hour.

California's weekly rule also provides time-and-a-half pay for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek.

Daily and weekly overtime rules are considered together. The same hours are not simply paid twice because they qualify under both a daily and weekly rule.

For example, an employee could work six hours a day for seven days. That adds up to 42 hours. Even though the employee did not exceed eight hours on any single day, overtime rules may still apply because of the weekly total and the seventh-day rule.

To see how a schedule breaks into regular, overtime and double-time hours, enter the workweek in the California pay estimator.

California has an additional rule for the seventh consecutive day worked within an employer’s workweek.

For most nonexempt employees:

• -The first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive day receive time-and-a-half pay.
• -Hours worked beyond eight on that seventh day receive double-time pay.

The rule concerns the seventh consecutive day within the same workweek, not simply any seven calendar days chosen by the employee.

Being paid a salary does not automatically mean an employee is exempt from overtime.

Exempt status normally depends on several legal requirements, including the employee’s actual duties and how the employee is paid. A job title by itself does not settle the question.

Someone called a “manager,” for example, may still be entitled to overtime if the position does not satisfy the applicable exemption requirements. The Labor Commissioner maintains current overtime exemption information.

A workday is a fixed 24-hour period established by the employer that begins at the same time each calendar day. It does not always begin at midnight.

This matters for employees who work overnight. A shift that crosses midnight is not automatically split into two separate workdays for overtime purposes. The employer’s established workday determines where the hours fall.

An employer may have a rule requiring approval before an employee works overtime. Even so, the employer must pay for overtime it knew about or should have known was being worked.

The employer may address a violation of its scheduling or approval policy separately, but it cannot accept the work and then refuse to pay for the time.

California overtime rules contain exemptions and special rules. The standard calculation may not apply in the usual way to every worker.

Examples can include:

• -Employees who legally qualify as executive, administrative or professional employees
• -Certain workers covered by a valid alternative workweek schedule
• -Some commissioned employees
• -Certain drivers and transportation workers
• -Employees covered by qualifying collective bargaining agreements
• -Workers in industries with special wage-order rules

Review the Labor Commissioner’s official pages covering exemptions and exceptions to the general overtime law for more detail.