California Overtime Calculator

California Overtime Rules

California has some of the most protective overtime laws in the country. Unlike federal law, which only counts weekly overtime hours, California mandates overtime on both a daily overtime and weekly basis under Labor Code Section 510 and the applicable Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Wage Orders.

Daily overtime: Non-exempt employees earn 1.5 times their regular rate for every hour worked beyond 8 in a single workday, and double time (2x) for every hour beyond 12. This means a 10-hour day triggers 2 hours of overtime pay regardless of how many total hours you work that week.

7th consecutive day rule: If an employee works all 7 days in a workweek, the 7th day is treated specially. The first 8 hours on that day are paid at 1.5x, and any hours beyond 8 on the 7th day are paid at 2x. This rule applies even if the employee worked fewer than 40 total hours that week.

Weekly overtime: In addition to daily overtime, any hours exceeding 40 in a workweek that have not already been counted as daily overtime are paid at 1.5x the regular rate. California does not double-count: if an hour already qualifies for daily overtime, it is not also counted as weekly overtime.

California vs Federal Overtime

The differences between California overtime and federal overtime law are significant. Federal law, governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), only requires overtime after 40 hours in a workweek. California layers daily overtime on top of the weekly threshold, resulting in more overtime pay in most scenarios.

Step-by-Step Example

Consider a warehouse worker earning $20 per hour who works the following schedule: 10 hours Monday through Friday and 6 hours on Saturday. Here is how California overtime breaks down:

Monday through Friday (10 hrs each): Each day has 8 regular hours and 2 daily overtime hours at 1.5x. That gives 40 regular hours and 10 daily OT hours for the five weekdays.

Saturday (6 hrs): The employee has already worked 50 hours (Mon-Fri). All 50 hours are accounted for in regular and daily OT. The 6 Saturday hours push the weekly total to 56. Since 40 regular hours are already used, these 6 hours are weekly overtime at 1.5x. However, because they are not daily OT (under 8 hours that day), they count as weekly OT.

Calculation:

• Regular: 40 hours x $20 = $800.00
• Daily OT (1.5x): 10 hours x $30 = $300.00
• Weekly OT (1.5x): 6 hours x $30 = $180.00
• Total: $1,280.00

Who is Covered?

California overtime rules apply to all non-exempt employees, which includes most hourly workers and many salaried employees who do not meet the executive, administrative, or professional exemption tests. To be exempt in California, an employee must earn at least twice the state minimum wage on a salary basis and spend more than 50% of their time on exempt duties.

Certain industries have alternative workweek arrangements. For example, healthcare workers may have special scheduling under IWC Wage Order 5, and some employers adopt alternative workweek schedules (such as four 10-hour days) that adjust the daily overtime threshold. However, these arrangements require proper employee elections and cannot reduce the weekly 40-hour overtime threshold.

Independent contractors are not covered by California overtime law. However, California applies the ABC test under AB 5 to determine worker classification, making it difficult for employers to misclassify employees as contractors to avoid overtime obligations.