In California, most non-exempt employees can work up to eight hours in a day and 40 hours in a week at their regular rate of pay. Beyond those limits, overtime kicks in. There is no absolute ceiling on how many hours you can work in California per day, but the state stacks progressively higher pay rates on longer hours and guarantees at least one day of rest each week.
The Eight-Hour Day and 40-Hour Week
For non-exempt workers, California defines a standard workday as eight hours and a standard workweek as 40 hours. Every hour past those points costs the employer more. The daily trigger is one of the biggest differences between California and federal law: under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime only starts after 40 hours in a week, while California layers a daily calculation on top.
Overtime comes in two tiers:
- Time-and-a-half (1.5x your regular rate): hours beyond eight in a workday, hours beyond 40 in a workweek, and the first eight hours on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 510
- Double time (2x your regular rate): hours beyond 12 in a workday, and hours beyond eight on that seventh consecutive day.2Department of Industrial Relations. California Code of Regulations Title 8 Section 11170
A 14-hour day breaks down like this: the first eight hours at your regular rate, hours nine through twelve at time-and-a-half, and hours thirteen and fourteen at double time. The daily and weekly calculations run independently, so your employer must apply whichever produces the higher pay for a given period.
The Seventh Day and Your Right to a Day of Rest
California entitles every worker to one day of rest out of every seven. Employers cannot require you to work more than six days in a row.3Justia Law. California Labor Code Sections 551 and 552 You can choose to work the seventh day voluntarily, but the decision has to genuinely be yours, not something your employer pressures you into.
If you do work a seventh consecutive day in a workweek, overtime rules apply from the first hour: time-and-a-half for the first eight hours and double time after that.
Compressed Schedules: 4/10 and Other Alternatives
Ten-hour shifts are common in California, and they don’t automatically trigger daily overtime, but only through a formal process. To adopt a schedule like four 10-hour days without paying overtime after hour eight, the employer must propose it and at least two-thirds of the affected workers must approve it in a secret ballot. You can’t just agree to a 4/10 schedule informally with your manager and waive overtime.4California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 511
Under a properly adopted alternative workweek, you earn time-and-a-half for any hours beyond the regularly scheduled shift (up to 12 hours in a day) and for hours beyond 40 in a week. Double time still applies to anything past 12 hours in a day. If the schedule was never properly voted on and adopted, the standard eight-hour daily rules apply as if the arrangement didn’t exist.
Who Actually Gets These Protections
California’s daily and weekly hour rules apply to non-exempt employees. If you’re paid hourly and your job doesn’t fall into an executive, administrative, or professional category, you’re almost certainly non-exempt. Classification depends on what you actually do day to day, not your job title.
To qualify as exempt, both tests must be met. Your primary duties must genuinely involve managing a business or department, performing office work tied to business operations that requires independent judgment, or doing work that requires advanced education in a specialized field. And you must earn a salary equal to at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work.5California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 515 With California’s minimum wage at $16.90 per hour as of January 1, 2026, that salary threshold is $70,304 per year.6California Department of Industrial Relations. California Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $16.90 Per Hour Miss either test and you’re non-exempt no matter what your employer calls your position.
Stricter Limits for Minors
California caps how long and how late minors can work, and the rules get tighter for younger workers.
Ages 16 and 17
- Up to four hours on school days.
- Up to eight hours on non-school days.
- Up to 48 hours per week, regardless of whether school is in session.
- Hours limited to 5:00 a.m. through 10:00 p.m. on nights before a school day, extended to 12:30 a.m. on nights before a non-school day.7California Department of Industrial Relations. Child Labor Laws Pamphlet
Ages 14 and 15
- Up to three hours on school days, and only outside school hours.
- Up to eight hours on non-school days.
- Up to 18 hours during weeks when school is in session, 40 hours when school is out.
- Hours limited to 7:00 a.m. through 7:00 p.m. during the school year, with the evening cutoff extended to 9:00 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day.7California Department of Industrial Relations. Child Labor Laws Pamphlet
Minors aged 12 and 13 can work only in limited circumstances with even tighter restrictions. Any employer hiring a minor in California needs a work permit issued through the minor’s school.
Meal and Rest Breaks Within Your Day
The hours you can work also depend on the breaks California requires inside them. For non-exempt employees, these breaks aren’t optional guidelines. An employer who fails to provide them owes extra pay.
Meal breaks: if you work more than five hours in a day, your employer must provide a 30-minute unpaid meal break. If your shift runs beyond 10 hours, a second 30-minute unpaid meal break is required.8California Department of Industrial Relations. Meal Periods FAQ During these breaks, you must be completely relieved of all duties. A meal break where your employer keeps you on-call doesn’t count.
Rest breaks: your employer must authorize and permit a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours you work, or a “major fraction” of four hours, meaning anything over two. A six-hour shift gets one rest break; a nine-hour shift gets two. Rest breaks are paid time.
If your employer fails to provide a required meal or rest period, you’re owed one additional hour of pay at your regular rate for each type of violation on each workday it happens.9California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 226.7 Miss both a meal break and a rest break on the same day and you’re owed two extra hours.
If Your Employer Breaks These Rules
If your employer isn’t paying overtime, skipping meal or rest breaks, or forcing a seventh straight workday, you can file a wage claim with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), also called the Labor Commissioner’s Office. You don’t need a lawyer to file, and there’s no cost. The DLSE investigates and can order your employer to pay what’s owed plus penalties.
California generally allows three years to file most wage claims, and four years when the claim is based on a written contract. Federal law sets the statute of limitations for unpaid overtime claims at two years from the violation, or three years if the violation was willful.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 255 – Statute of Limitations Every pay period you wait is a pay period you might not be able to recover.