California Labor Code 510: Overtime, Double Time, and Seventh-Day Pay

California Labor Code Section 510 overtime rules require your employer to pay a premium when you work long hours as a non-exempt employee: time-and-a-half after eight hours in a workday or 40 in a workweek, and double time after 12 hours in a single day. The daily trigger is what separates California from federal law, which only looks at the weekly total.

The Daily and Weekly Triggers

Under Section 510, the standard workday is eight hours and the standard workweek is 40 hours across seven consecutive days.¹ Cross either one and overtime kicks in for every additional hour.

The two limits work independently. Work a nine-hour shift on Monday and you’re owed overtime for that ninth hour even if your weekly total never reaches 40. A single long day is enough. The daily count resets with each new workday, so every shift stands on its own.

Time-and-a-Half: Hours Nine Through Twelve

Every hour past the eighth in a workday must be paid at no less than one-and-a-half times your regular rate.¹ That rate covers hours nine through twelve. If your regular rate is $20, hours nine and ten each pay $30.

The same time-and-a-half rate applies to hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek when the daily threshold hasn’t already triggered overtime for those hours. Section 510 does not require stacking: if a single hour qualifies for overtime under more than one rule, the employer pays one premium, not both combined.¹

Double Time After Twelve Hours

Once a shift crosses the twelfth hour, the rate jumps to double your regular pay for every additional hour.¹ At a $20 regular rate, the thirteenth hour pays $40. There’s no legal cap on how long a shift can run, but the cost structure is designed to make marathon days expensive.

The Seventh Consecutive Workday

A separate premium applies when you work all seven days of your employer’s defined workweek. On that seventh consecutive day, the first eight hours are paid at time-and-a-half and anything beyond eight is paid at double time.¹ This applies even if your weekly hours haven’t reached 40.

The seventh day is measured inside the employer’s defined workweek, not just any rolling seven-day stretch. If your employer’s workweek runs Sunday through Saturday, working Monday through the following Sunday is not the same thing.

What Counts as Your Regular Rate of Pay

Overtime multiplies your “regular rate of pay,” which is often higher than your base hourly wage. The regular rate includes hourly earnings, commissions, piece-rate pay, and non-discretionary bonuses.² A shift differential for nights or weekends also folds in before the multiplier is applied. A nurse earning $40 an hour with a 10 percent night differential has a regular rate of $44 on those hours, making the time-and-a-half rate $66 rather than $60.

If you work two different pay rates for the same employer in one week, your regular rate is a weighted average. Add up all straight-time earnings and divide by total hours worked. Commissions can either serve directly as the regular rate for production during overtime hours, or be rolled into a blended weekly rate with a half-time premium added on top for each overtime hour.²

Who Section 510 Does Not Cover

Not every California worker gets these overtime protections. Labor Code Section 515 exempts executive, administrative, and professional employees who meet all three of the following:

They spend more than half their working time on duties that fit the specific exemption, such as managing a department, performing office work tied to business operations, or practicing a recognized profession.
They regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment in those duties.
They earn a monthly salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work.

With California’s minimum wage at $16.90 per hour as of January 1, 2026, the exempt salary floor for most white-collar roles is $70,304 per year.³ All three prongs must be met. A salaried employee earning well above $70,304 who doesn’t actually spend most of their time on exempt duties is still entitled to overtime.

Computer software professionals have a separate, higher pay floor. For 2026, the threshold is $58.85 per hour or an annual salary of $122,573.13.⁴ Workers under a qualifying collective bargaining agreement may also follow different overtime rules under Labor Code Section 514, provided the agreement sets premium rates for overtime and a regular hourly wage at least 30 percent above the state minimum wage.¹

Alternative Workweek Schedules

Labor Code Section 511 lets an employer propose a schedule that allows up to 10 hours of work per day within a 40-hour week without triggering daily overtime.⁵ Four 10-hour days is the most common version. Under an approved schedule, time-and-a-half starts only after the agreed daily limit instead of after eight hours.

Adoption is not casual. At least two-thirds of the affected employees in a defined work unit must approve the proposal by secret ballot, and the employer has 30 days to report the results to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.⁵ A missed vote or missed filing can invalidate the schedule and leave the employer owing overtime at the regular eight-hour threshold.

Even with a valid alternative schedule, double time still applies to any hours beyond 12 in a day, and any hours beyond eight on a day outside the regularly scheduled workdays are paid at double time rather than time-and-a-half.⁵

Unauthorized Overtime Still Has to Be Paid

Employers sometimes claim they don’t owe overtime because they never approved it. California law requires payment for all overtime hours the employer knew about or should have known about, whether or not those hours were pre-authorized. The employer can discipline you for breaking an authorization policy, but can’t withhold the overtime pay. The only narrow exception is when an employee deliberately hides the extra hours from an employer that has a clear authorization policy in place.

Penalties and How to Collect Unpaid Overtime

Labor Code Section 558 imposes a civil penalty of $50 per underpaid employee per pay period for an initial violation, plus the full amount of unpaid wages. Subsequent violations run $100 per underpaid employee per pay period, again on top of the wages owed.⁶

If you’re terminated and your final wages, including unpaid overtime, aren’t paid when due, your daily rate continues to accrue as a waiting time penalty for each day payment is late, up to 30 calendar days.⁷ At $200 a day, that’s $6,000 on top of the original wages.

Labor Code Section 1194 gives any employee who received less than the legally required overtime the right to sue for the unpaid balance, plus interest, reasonable attorney’s fees, and court costs.⁸ The right to overtime cannot be waived by any agreement between you and your employer.

You can also file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner’s Office, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. Claims can be filed online, by email, by mail, or in person, with no filing fee. After filing, the office investigates and usually schedules a settlement conference. If no agreement is reached, the case moves to a formal hearing. You have three years from the date of each violation to file.⁹ Wait longer and the oldest violations drop off the claim.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 510
2
Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
3
Department of Industrial Relations. California’s Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $16.90 Per Hour
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Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage
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California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 511
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California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 558
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Department of Industrial Relations. Waiting Time Penalty
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California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 1194
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Department of Industrial Relations. How to File a Wage Claim