The new overtime law in California for 2026 isn’t a single piece of legislation but a set of automatic updates triggered by the state minimum wage rising to $16.90 per hour on January 1, 2026.1California Department of Industrial Relations. California Minimum Wage MW-2026 The headline change: the minimum salary an employer must pay to classify a white-collar worker as overtime-exempt jumped to $70,304 per year, up from $68,640 in 2025.2California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 515 Anyone earning between those two figures who was treated as exempt last year may now be entitled to overtime pay.
What Actually Changed for 2026
The Exempt Salary Threshold Rose to $70,304
California pegs the salary threshold for executive, administrative, and professional exemptions at exactly twice the state minimum wage for full-time work. With the minimum wage now at $16.90, the math is $16.90 × 2 × 2,080 hours, which comes to $70,304 per year.2California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 515 A salaried employee below that number cannot be classified as exempt under the standard white-collar rules, no matter what their job title says or what duties they perform.
Computer Professionals Have New Thresholds
Computer software professionals use a separate exemption with its own numbers, adjusted each year to the California Consumer Price Index. For 2026, a computer professional must earn at least $58.85 per hour, $10,214.44 per month, or $122,573.13 per year to qualify as exempt. That is a 3.3 percent increase over the 2025 figures.3California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime Exemption for Computer Software Employees
Licensed Physicians
Licensed physicians and surgeons must earn at least $107.17 per hour for 2026 to qualify under their separate exemption.
Agricultural Overtime Phase-In Is Fully Complete
Assembly Bill 1066 gradually brought farmworkers under the same daily and weekly overtime rules as most other California workers. That phase-in finished on January 1, 2025. Agricultural workers at employers of any size now earn overtime after eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, and double time after 12 hours in a day.4California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime for Agricultural Workers The old schedules based on employer size no longer apply.
Industry Minimum Wages Push Overtime Rates Higher
Two industry-specific minimum wages affect what overtime pays. Fast food restaurant workers have a $20.00 minimum in place since April 1, 2024, so their overtime rate is at least $30.00 per hour.5California Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage Large hospital systems and dialysis clinics pay healthcare workers a minimum of $24.00 per hour through June 30, 2026, rising to $25.00 on July 1, 2026. Community clinics, rural health clinics, and most other covered healthcare facilities pay minimums ranging from $18.63 to $21.00 through mid-2026, with scheduled increases after that.6California Department of Industrial Relations. Health Care Worker Minimum Wage Frequently Asked Questions Those higher base rates flow directly into higher overtime pay.
How California Overtime Works
The thresholds above only matter because of the overtime rules they plug into. California triggers overtime on a daily basis, not just weekly, which is more generous than federal law. A non-exempt employee earns 1.5 times their regular rate for:
- Hours worked beyond eight in a single workday
- Hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek
- The first eight hours worked on a seventh consecutive day in the same workweek7California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
Double time applies after 12 hours in a single workday, or after eight hours on that seventh consecutive day.7California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime The daily trigger is where employers routinely slip up. Someone working four 10-hour days earns two hours of overtime each day even if the weekly total stays at 40.
If your employer didn’t preapprove the extra hours, they still owe you overtime pay for all hours they knew or should have known about. They can discipline you separately for working unauthorized hours, but they cannot withhold the pay.7California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
Who Is Actually Exempt
Being salaried isn’t enough. California requires both a salary test and a duties test, and an employee has to pass both.8California Department of Industrial Relations. Exemptions from the Overtime Laws
The salary test for 2026 is the $70,304 figure described above. The duties test requires that more than half of the employee’s work time involve executive, administrative, or professional duties, and that those duties require the regular use of discretion and independent judgment.2California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 515
Job titles don’t decide the question. A “manager” who spends most of the day stocking shelves or taking orders doesn’t satisfy the duties test, regardless of salary. California looks at what you actually do, not what the job description claims. Outside salespeople are exempt only if they spend more than half their working time away from the employer’s workplace making sales or taking orders.
Alternative Workweek Schedules
If your employer uses a four-day, 10-hour schedule, that only avoids daily overtime at eight hours when the schedule was adopted through a formal process that includes a secret-ballot vote by the affected work group, with results reported to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.9California Department of Industrial Relations. Exceptions to the General Overtime Law If the vote never happened or wasn’t done correctly, the standard eight-hour trigger still applies and the employer owes back pay for every hour over eight.
What to Do If You’re Owed Overtime
You have three years from the date of each missed overtime payment to file a wage claim with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, also called the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.10California Department of Industrial Relations. How to File a Wage Claim Claims can be filed online, by email, by mail, or in person. The office investigates, usually schedules a settlement conference, and if that doesn’t resolve things, holds a hearing where an officer reviews evidence and issues a decision.
You can also go straight to court. Under California Labor Code Section 1194, employees who recover unpaid overtime in a civil lawsuit are entitled to the unpaid wages plus interest, reasonable attorney’s fees, and court costs.11California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 1194 If you’ve already left the job and your employer still hasn’t paid, waiting-time penalties under Labor Code Section 203 can add up to 30 days of wages on top of what you were owed.7California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
Retaliation is illegal. If your employer fires you, cuts your hours, or takes other adverse action because you complained about unpaid overtime, you can file a separate retaliation complaint with the Labor Commissioner’s Office.7California Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
Your employer must keep daily records of hours worked and wages paid for at least three years, and cannot stop you from keeping your own log.12California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 1174 If you think your pay is wrong, start a personal daily record now: when you start, when you take breaks, when you finish. That log is often the strongest evidence in a wage claim.