In California, overtime kicks in after 8 hours in a workday or after 40 hours in a workweek, whichever threshold you cross first. Most states follow only the federal 40-hour weekly rule, but California Labor Code Section 510 adds a daily trigger that applies no matter how few total hours you end up working that week.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 510 A 10-hour shift earns you two hours of overtime even if it’s the only day you work.
The Daily 8-Hour Rule
Every hour a nonexempt employee works beyond eight in a single workday is paid at one-and-a-half times the regular rate of pay. That premium covers hours nine through twelve. Anything past twelve hours in the same day is paid at double the regular rate.2California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
A workday isn’t automatically midnight to midnight. It’s any consecutive 24-hour period beginning at the time the employer has established. If your employer sets the workday to start at 6:00 a.m., a shift from 5:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. crosses two workdays, and daily overtime is calculated separately for each.
The Weekly 40-Hour Rule
California also requires overtime for any hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, mirroring the federal standard. The workweek is any seven consecutive days as defined by your employer.2California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
The weekly trigger does its real work when your individual days stay at or under eight hours but you work enough of them to cross 40. Six 7-hour days is 42 hours. None of those days triggers daily overtime, but the last two hours of the week are still owed at time-and-a-half.
How the Two Rules Work Together
The daily and weekly rules run at the same time, but you don’t get paid overtime twice for the same hour. Labor Code 510 says an employer is not required to combine more than one overtime rate for any single hour of work.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 510 It’s an anti-stacking rule.
Say you work five 9-hour days. Each day generates one hour of daily overtime (hour nine), so five overtime hours for the week. You also worked 45 total hours, five over the weekly threshold. Those are the same five hours. No extra premium is owed; the daily overtime absorbs the weekly overtime.
Now consider four 10-hour shifts. That’s 40 hours total, so the weekly threshold is never crossed. But daily overtime gives you two hours per day at time-and-a-half, or eight overtime hours for the week. This is the scenario where California’s law makes the biggest practical difference: under federal rules alone, none of those hours would be owed at a premium.
Double Time and the Seventh Day
California is one of the few states that requires double time in certain situations. Two triggers:2California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
- Every hour past twelve in a single workday is paid at double the regular rate.
- On the seventh consecutive day worked in a workweek, the first eight hours are paid at time-and-a-half, and every hour beyond eight is paid at double time.
A 14-hour shift stacks like this: the first eight hours are straight time, hours nine through twelve are time-and-a-half, and hours thirteen and fourteen are double time.
The seventh-day rule catches people because it means seven days within the same workweek, not any seven-day streak. If the employer’s workweek runs Sunday through Saturday and you work Tuesday through the following Monday, that’s six days in one workweek and two in the next — no seventh-consecutive-day premium in either.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 510 Some categories are excepted, including household employees working fewer than 30 hours in a workweek with no day over six hours.3California Department of Industrial Relations. Exceptions to the General Overtime Law
Your Regular Rate of Pay
Overtime is calculated on your regular rate of pay, which is often higher than your base hourly wage. California folds nondiscretionary bonuses, commissions, piece-rate earnings, and certain other compensation into that rate. A truly discretionary bonus — one the employer had no obligation to pay — is excluded.
A short example. You earn $20 per hour, work 45 hours, and get a $100 production bonus. Straight-time pay of $900 plus the $100 bonus is $1,000. Divide by 45 hours and your regular rate is $22.22. The overtime premium on each of the five overtime hours is half that rate, since the straight-time portion is already in the $1,000.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 56C – Bonuses Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
If you work at two different pay rates for the same employer in one week, the regular rate is a weighted average: total earnings divided by total hours.
Common Ways Employers Get This Wrong
The daily rule makes four-day, 10-hour workweeks expensive unless the employer formally adopts an Alternative Workweek Schedule under Labor Code 511. That requires a secret-ballot vote in which at least two-thirds of affected employees approve, and the employer must report the results to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within 30 days.5California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 511 Even with an approved schedule, hours past 12 in a day are still double time, and hours past 40 in the week are still overtime.6California Code of Regulations. Title 8, Section 11170 – Miscellaneous Employees An informal handshake to work four tens doesn’t count. Without a proper election, daily overtime is owed for every hour past eight.
Employers also misuse the exempt label. To be exempt from overtime in California, an employee must pass both a salary test and a duties test.7California Department of Industrial Relations. Exemptions From the Overtime Laws The salary floor is twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, which comes to $70,304 per year with California’s minimum wage set at $16.90 as of January 1, 2026.8California Department of Industrial Relations. California’s Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $16.90 Per Hour The duties test asks what you actually do: more than half your work time must be spent on genuine managerial, administrative, or professional tasks. A title alone doesn’t make you exempt.
If You’re Owed Overtime
You can file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner’s Office online, by email, by mail, or in person, or file a civil lawsuit on your own.9California Department of Industrial Relations. How to File a Wage Claim A successful claim can recover the full amount of unpaid overtime plus interest, reasonable attorney’s fees, and court costs.10California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 1194 If your employer willfully refused to pay wages owed when you left the job, penalties can add up to 30 days of additional wages.
Watch the deadlines. Unpaid overtime claims must be filed within three years of the violation. Claims based on an oral promise to pay above minimum wage have a two-year deadline, and claims on a written contract get four years.9California Department of Industrial Relations. How to File a Wage Claim Keep your own records of hours worked, pay stubs, and messages about scheduling. Employer records aren’t always accurate, and your documentation is often what decides the claim.