California Overtime Law: 4/10-Hour Days, Adoption & Breaks

A 4/10 schedule in California lets a non-exempt employee work four 10-hour days each week without triggering daily overtime, but only if the employer first runs a formal alternative workweek election under Labor Code Section 511. Without that election, the standard eight-hour daily overtime rule in Section 510 still applies, and every ninth and tenth hour counts as overtime no matter what the posted schedule says. The California 4/10 work schedule overtime rules also keep the weekly 40-hour cap in place, add overtime protection for any day worked outside the scheduled four, and raise new break obligations once shifts stretch past 10 hours.¹

How Pay Is Calculated on a 10-Hour Day

California’s default overtime law is more aggressive than federal law. Any non-exempt employee who works more than eight hours in a day earns 1.5 times their regular rate, and anything past 12 hours in a day earns double time. These daily thresholds sit on top of the 40-hour weekly rule.²

A valid alternative workweek election moves the daily overtime threshold up to match the scheduled hours. On a properly adopted 4/10 schedule, the pay structure for a single workday looks like this:

Hours 1 through 10 are paid at your regular rate.
Hours 11 and 12 are paid at 1.5 times your regular rate.
Any hour beyond 12 is paid at double your regular rate.

So an employee who works 13 hours on a scheduled 4/10 day gets 10 hours at straight time, two hours at time-and-a-half, and one hour at double time, not two hours of double time. At $25 per hour, that day pays $250 for the first 10 hours, $75 for hours 11 and 12, and $50 for the 13th hour, for a total of $375.¹

The 40-hour weekly cap applies separately. Any hours past 40 in a single workweek are overtime even if no individual day went past 10.¹

Working a Fifth Day

The alternative workweek agreement sets specific scheduled workdays, and stepping outside those days has its own overtime rules. If you’re called in on what should be a day off, the first eight hours on that extra day are paid at 1.5 times your regular rate, and anything past eight hours that day is paid at double time.²

An employer cannot use a 4/10 schedule to pull extra days at straight pay. Overtime protection kicks in from the first hour of an unscheduled day. In practice, employers who routinely ask 4/10 employees to work a fifth day often spend more than they would under a plain eight-hour schedule.

What It Takes to Legally Adopt a 4/10 Schedule

No employer can switch to a 4/10 schedule by announcement. Section 511 requires a formal election, and skipping any step can void the whole thing.

Written Disclosure and a 14-Day Waiting Period

Before any vote, the employer has to give affected employees a written disclosure explaining how the proposed schedule will affect their wages, hours, and benefits. The employer must also hold at least one meeting about the proposal, with notice, at least 14 days before the vote. If five percent or more of affected employees primarily speak a language other than English, the disclosure has to be provided in that language as well. Workers who miss the meeting must receive the disclosure by mail.³

Missing the disclosure or the 14-day window doesn’t just weaken the election. It voids the result.

Two-Thirds Secret Ballot

After the disclosure period, the employer runs a secret ballot election. At least two-thirds of affected employees in a readily identifiable work unit must vote in favor. A simple majority is not enough. The threshold is deliberately high to keep employers from pressuring a thin majority into a schedule change.¹

The ballot can offer a single schedule or a menu of options, and it may include a traditional eight-hour day for workers who prefer one. That flexibility often matters for hitting the two-thirds mark.

Reporting Results to the State

Within 30 days of the final results, the employer must report the outcome to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. The report has to include the business name and address, the nature of the business, the election date, the full vote tally, the size of the affected unit, and the adopted schedule.⁴

Not filing the report doesn’t automatically void the schedule, but it leaves a paperwork gap that becomes a real problem if an employee later challenges the arrangement.

Meal and Rest Breaks on 10-Hour Shifts

Longer days change the break math. California requires a 30-minute meal period for any shift exceeding five hours. A second 30-minute meal period is required when a shift exceeds 10 hours. That second meal period can be waived by mutual agreement, but only if the shift won’t exceed 12 hours and the first meal period was not waived.⁵

Many 4/10 employers assume one meal break covers a 10-hour day. Most 4/10 employees should either take two meal periods or sign a written waiver for the second one.

Rest breaks work on a separate schedule. Employees earn a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked, or major fraction of four hours, with anything over two hours counting as a major fraction. A 10-hour shift therefore requires three rest breaks.⁶

Getting Out of a 4/10 Schedule

Employees who no longer want the schedule aren’t locked in. If at least one-third of the affected work unit signs a petition requesting repeal, the employer must hold a new secret ballot election. If two-thirds vote to repeal, the alternative schedule has to end within 60 days.¹

The employer cannot block or delay a repeal election once the one-third petition threshold is met.

Who the Rules Cover

These overtime and alternative workweek rules apply only to non-exempt employees. Exempt employees in executive, administrative, or professional roles who meet the duties tests are not entitled to overtime pay and are not affected by an alternative workweek election.

To qualify as exempt in California, an employee must earn a salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time employment. With the state minimum wage set at $16.90 per hour as of January 1, 2026, the minimum annual salary for exempt status is $70,304.⁷ If your salary is below that figure, you’re almost certainly non-exempt and entitled to the overtime protections above, even if your title suggests otherwise.

If You Think You’ve Been Shorted

Most 4/10 disputes fall into predictable patterns. The biggest is an employer who never held a valid election, whether by skipping the process entirely, treating verbal agreement as sufficient, or failing to clear the two-thirds threshold. When that happens, the standard eight-hour daily overtime rule applies retroactively, and affected employees may be owed back pay for two hours of overtime on every 10-hour day they worked.¹

Election procedure is the next common flashpoint. Employees challenge whether the 14-day disclosure was met, whether the ballot was truly secret, or whether the employer pressured the vote. A missing step can void the election entirely.³

Pay errors on fifth days are the third pattern. Employers sometimes pay straight time when a 4/10 employee works an extra day, missing the rule that overtime applies from the first hour on any unscheduled day.²

If you suspect underpayment, request your time records from your employer; California law requires employers to keep accurate records and make them available for inspection. If those records show you were underpaid, you can file a wage claim with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement or recover unpaid overtime through a civil action under Labor Code Section 1194, which also lets a prevailing employee recover attorney’s fees and costs.⁸ The fee-shifting provision is why lawyers will take even modest unpaid overtime cases: if the employee wins, the employer pays the legal bill.

1
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 511
2
California Department of Industrial Relations. Exceptions to the General Overtime Law
3
California Department of Industrial Relations. IWC Wage Order 11170 – Miscellaneous Employees
4
California Department of Industrial Relations. Alternative Workweek Elections
5
California Department of Industrial Relations. Meal Periods
6
California Department of Industrial Relations. Rest Periods and Lactation Accommodation
7
California Department of Industrial Relations. California Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $16.90 Per Hour
8
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 1194