Guide
California Overtime Rules: Daily, Weekly and 7th-Day
California is the strictest overtime state in the US. Non-exempt employees earn overtime by the day as well as by the week: time and a half after 8 hours in a workday, double time after 12, and special rates on the seventh consecutive day of a workweek. Federal law only looks at the week, so a California paycheck can include overtime even in a week of fewer than 40 hours.
The rules in one table
California Labor Code §510 sets these minimums for non-exempt employees:
| Hours worked | Minimum rate |
|---|---|
| Up to 8 in a workday (and up to 40 in the workweek) | Regular rate |
| Over 8 and up to 12 in a workday | 1.5× regular rate |
| Over 12 in a workday | 2× regular rate |
| Over 40 in the workweek (hours not already paid as daily overtime) | 1.5× regular rate |
| First 8 hours on the 7th consecutive workday of the workweek | 1.5× regular rate |
| Over 8 hours on that 7th consecutive day | 2× regular rate |
"Regular rate" here means the same thing it does under federal law: your hourly wage plus most other pay for the week, such as shift differentials and non-discretionary bonuses. See how to calculate overtime pay for what goes into it, and overtime with two pay rates if you worked at more than one rate in the week.
What counts as a "workday"
The daily thresholds apply to a workday, which the California wage orders define as any consecutive 24-hour period beginning at the same time each calendar day. It does not have to start at midnight. If your employer's workday runs from 6:00 AM to 6:00 AM, a shift from 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM is split across two workdays: 8 hours fall in the first workday and 1 hour in the next. That matters for night workers, and it is covered in more depth in how to calculate hours for overnight shifts.
The workweek is a fixed, regularly recurring period of seven consecutive workdays. Your employer chooses when it starts, but it can't be moved around to avoid overtime.
Daily and weekly overtime are not added together
California counts overtime in two passes, and an hour is never paid as overtime twice:
- Daily pass. For each workday, hours 8 to 12 are paid at 1.5× and hours beyond 12 at 2×.
- Weekly pass. Add up the hours that were not already paid as daily overtime. If that total is over 40, the excess is paid at 1.5×.
Daily overtime hours are left out of the weekly count so they aren't "pyramided" into a second premium. This is the order the Time Card Calculator uses when you choose the California rule.
Worked example: a 50-hour week
A warehouse employee earns $24.00 an hour and works six days in one workweek:
| Day | Hours | Regular | 1.5× | 2× |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| Tuesday | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 |
| Wednesday | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Thursday | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| Friday | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Saturday | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Daily totals | 50 | 42 | 7 | 1 |
After the daily pass there are 42 regular hours. That is 2 more than 40, so the weekly pass moves 2 of them (the last ones worked, on Saturday) to 1.5×. The final split is 40 regular, 9 overtime and 1 double-time hour:
- Regular: 40 × $24.00 = $960.00
- Overtime: 9 × $36.00 = $324.00
- Double time: 1 × $48.00 = $48.00
- Gross pay: $1,332.00
Under the federal rule alone the same 50 hours would be 40 regular and 10 overtime hours, or $1,320.00. The $12 difference is the one hour past 12 on Thursday being paid at double time instead of time and a half. In a week with several long days and fewer total hours, the gap is much bigger: four 11-hour days (44 hours) earn 12 daily overtime hours in California but only 4 under the federal rule.
The seventh-day rule
If you work all seven days of a workweek, the seventh day is treated differently: its first 8 hours are paid at 1.5× even if you haven't reached 40 hours, and any hours beyond 8 on that day are paid at 2×. For example, someone who works 5 hours on each of the first six days (30 hours) and 9 hours on the seventh is owed 8 hours at 1.5× and 1 hour at 2× for that last day.
The rule depends on the workweek, not any seven days in a row. Seven consecutive days that straddle two workweeks don't trigger it. Our calculators apply California's daily and weekly thresholds but not the seventh-day rule, so if it applies to you, add those hours separately.
Alternative workweek schedules
An employer can adopt an "alternative workweek schedule", such as four 10-hour days, if it follows the secret-ballot election procedure in the wage orders. Under a valid schedule, hours up to the agreed daily length (10 hours in a 4/10 schedule) are paid at the regular rate, and daily overtime starts after that. Without a valid election, a 4/10 schedule owes 2 hours of overtime every day. If you work a compressed schedule, ask whether it was adopted by an election.
Who isn't covered
Overtime rules apply to non-exempt employees. Most executive, administrative and professional employees are exempt if they pass a duties test and earn a salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work. With the 2026 statewide minimum wage of $16.90 an hour, that threshold is $70,304 a year. Some jobs, such as certain computer professionals, physicians and outside salespeople, have their own rules. Job titles don't decide exemption; the duties and pay do. See exempt vs non-exempt employees.
Common mistakes on California timesheets
- Only checking the weekly total. A 38-hour week can still include overtime if any day ran past 8 hours.
- Counting daily overtime twice. The weekly pass uses only the hours not already paid as daily overtime.
- Using the base wage for the overtime rate when a shift differential or production bonus was earned that week. Both raise the regular rate.
- Missing meal and rest break premiums. A missed California meal or rest break owes an extra hour of pay; see are breaks paid?
- Forgetting that a workday may not start at midnight. Night-shift hours are assigned to the workday your employer defines.
Calculate a California week
Enter each day's start and end times in the Time Card Calculator and choose the California rule to get the daily and weekly split and your gross pay. For a quick check from total hours, the Overtime Calculator also has a California option. Double time is explained further in what is double-time pay?