This page contains the following information:

• Overtime Posting Requirements
• Daily Overtime — California Law
• Weekly Overtime — California and Federal Law
• Seventh Day of the Workweek
• Straight-Time Hours Defined
• Nonresidents Entitled to Overtime for Work in California

Overtime Posting Requirements

There are 17 Wage Orders, each of which contains wage-and-hour rules specific to the industry or occupation it covers. You must post the applicable Wage Order for your business where all employees can see it. For more information on overtime and other posting requirements, see Required Posters & Pamphlets and California Wage and Hour Law.

Daily Overtime — California Law

Nonexempt California employees earn overtime pay based on hours worked in each workday, regardless of whether more than 40 hours are worked in the workweek. Daily overtime pay requirements are as follows:

• You must provide 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay for:
• All hours worked beyond eight in a single workday
• The first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive day worked in a single workweek
• You must pay double the employee’s regular rate of pay for both:
• All hours worked beyond 12 in a single workday
• The hours worked beyond eight on the seventh consecutive day worked in a single workweek

The terms “workday,” “workweek,” “seventh consecutive day” and “regular rate of pay” are critical to overtime calculations. For definitions of what constitutes a workday or workweek, see “Workday Defined” in Defining Workday and Workweek and“Workweek Defined” in Defining Workday and Workweek.

For a definition of the seventh consecutive day, see Seventh Day of the Workweek in Understanding Basic Overtime Requirements. For a definition of regular rate of pay, see “Regular Rate of Pay Defined” in Calculating Overtime.

For industry-specific exceptions, see Overtime Exceptions for Specific Industries.

• It is a misdemeanor to require a minor to work more than eight hours in any one workday, regardless of whether you pay overtime.1 For more information on restrictions on a minor’s hours of work, see Child Labor Law.

Weekly Overtime — California and Federal Law

Employers are required to pay employees 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked beyond 40 straight-time hours in a workweek.

Only hours worked at straight-time apply to the weekly 40-hour limit. This prevents “pyramiding” of overtime, where an employee earns overtime on top of overtime already paid. For instance, an employee who works five, 11-hour days and has been paid three hours of overtime for each day where they worked more than eight hours is not entitled to additional weekly overtime.

On the other hand if the employee worked six, eight-hour days, which would not require daily overtime, they are entitled to weekly overtime for working over 40 hours in a workweek. For more information, see Overtime Examples.

Seventh Day of the Workweek

The definition of “workweek” is extremely important when calculating overtime under the“seventh-day” rule. The seventh-day rule applies only on the last day of your defined seven-day workweek. It does not apply when an employee works seven consecutive days that are spread out between two workweeks, such as when an employee works the last three days of one workweek and then the first four days of the next workweek.

The seventh consecutive day worked in a workweek is paid differently than the first six days. On the seventh consecutive day worked in a single workweek you must pay an employee:

• Time and one-half the regular pay rate for the first eight hours worked.
• Double the regular pay rate for all hours worked beyond eight.

Example: You define a workweek as Sunday through Saturday. An employee works 4 hours each day from Sunday through Friday and then works 10 hours on Saturday. Saturday is the seventh consecutive day worked in the workweek. The employee receives eight hours pay at time and one-half and two hours pay at double-time.

* 30-minute unpaid meal break.

Example: You define a workweek as Monday through Sunday. If an employee works consecutively Thursday through Wednesday, Wednesday does not count as the seventh consecutive day in a workweek.

* 30-minute unpaid meal break.

How you define your workweek will impact your obligation to pay overtime. For more information, see“Workweek Defined” in Defining Workday and Workweek.

For information on mandatory days off, see Mandatory Days Off - Day of Rest.

• Exception: Wage Order 15 does not require overtime pay on the seventh day in a workweek, provided that the employee does not work over six hours each day and that the total hours for the week do not exceed 30. If the employee works over these specified hours, the seventh-day rule applies.

Straight-Time Hours Defined

“Straight-time” is normal working hours that are paid at a regular rate. Only hours worked at straight-time apply to the weekly 40-hour limit on hours worked.

This prevents overtime from pyramiding, so an employee does not earn overtime on top of overtime already paid. Once an employee has been paid overtime for working more than eight hours in a day, those overtime hours do not count toward the weekly 40-hour limit.

Example: An employee works 10 hours each day Monday through Thursday, earning eight hours of straight-time and two hours of overtime pay each day. When that employee comes in on Friday morning, although they already worked 40 hours in the workweek, they’ve worked only 32 hours of straight-time. They do not begin earning weekly overtime until after they work eight more hours of straight-time in that workweek.

Nonresidents Entitled to Overtime for Work in California

California overtime laws protect employees who normally work in another state when they perform work in California for California-based employers.2

The California Supreme Court determined that California’s overtime provisions apply to any employee who works in California for a California-based employer.3 The court’s decision was limited to the issue of overtime pay and does not resolve many related questions, which will likely be the subject of future litigation:

• Does this ruling apply to partial days worked in California or only full days?
• Are out-of-state employees subject to other laws, such as meal and rest breaks and paycheck requirements?
• Does this ruling apply to companies who are not based in California, but who send employees to work in California?

California employers should seek legal advice with any questions relating to paying nonresident workers.

1. Lab. Code sec. 1392