Guide
Split Shift Pay: Hours and California's Premium
A split shift is a working day broken into two or more parts by a long unpaid gap the employer sets, like a restaurant shift of 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM and then 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM. To get your hours, add up the working parts and leave out the gap. In most places that's all there is to it. In California, lower-paid employees are also owed a split shift premium of up to one hour's pay at minimum wage.
Calculating hours on a split shift
Work out each part of the day on its own, then add them up:
| Part | Times | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Lunch service | 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM | 3.00 |
| Dinner service | 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM | 5.00 |
| Total worked | 8.00 |
The 3-hour gap is unpaid and doesn't count toward your hours. Any paid rest breaks inside the working parts do count. Overtime rules use the total for the day or week as usual, so in California two parts of 5 and 6 hours make an 11-hour workday with 3 hours of daily overtime, even though neither part was longer than 8 hours.
California's split shift premium
California's wage orders define a split shift as "a work schedule which is interrupted by non-paid non-working periods established by the employer, other than bona fide rest or meal periods". When an employee works one, the wage orders require "one (1) hour's pay at the minimum wage" in addition to the minimum wage for that workday, unless the employee lives at the place of employment.
The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement applies this as a minimum for the day, not a flat bonus. Wages you earn above the minimum wage count toward the premium:
minimum for the day = (minimum wage × hours worked) + (1 × minimum wage)
premium owed = minimum for the day − wages actually earned (if positive)
Use the minimum wage that applies where you work. The 2026 statewide rate is $16.90 an hour, and many cities and counties set higher local rates; the DLSE uses whichever is higher.
Example 1: premium owed
An employee earning $17.00 an hour works 7:00 to 11:00 AM and 4:00 to 8:00 PM, 8 hours in total, where the minimum wage is $16.90:
- Minimum for the day: 8 × $16.90 + $16.90 = $135.20 + $16.90 = $152.10
- Wages earned: 8 × $17.00 = $136.00
- Premium owed: $152.10 − $136.00 = $16.10
Another way to see it: the full premium is $16.90, and the employee already earns $0.10 an hour above minimum wage, or $0.80 over 8 hours, so $16.90 − $0.80 = $16.10 is still owed.
Example 2: no premium owed
The same split shift at $20.00 an hour earns $160.00, which is more than the $152.10 minimum for the day. The $3.10 an hour above minimum wage (× 8 = $24.80) more than covers the $16.90 premium, so nothing extra is owed.
When does the premium stop applying?
Because the premium is offset by pay above minimum wage, it only matters below a break-even hourly rate, which depends on how many hours you work that day. At the $16.90 statewide minimum:
| Hours worked on the split-shift day | Premium owed if paid less than |
|---|---|
| 4 | $21.13 an hour |
| 6 | $19.72 an hour |
| 8 | $19.02 an hour |
| 10 | $18.59 an hour |
The break-even rate is the minimum wage × (1 + 1 ÷ hours worked), rounded up to the cent. With a higher local minimum wage, the break-even rates are higher too.
What isn't a split shift
- A normal meal break. A bona fide unpaid meal period doesn't make a split shift, even if it's long-ish.
- A shift that crosses into the next workday. In Securitas Security Services USA, Inc. v. Superior Court (2011), the California Court of Appeal held that a shift spanning two workdays isn't a split shift. See overnight shift hours.
- A gap you chose. The definition covers non-working periods "established by the employer".
- Two separate jobs with different employers on the same day.
Outside California
US federal law has no split shift premium. You're paid for the hours you work, and the unpaid gap in the middle isn't work time as long as you're genuinely free to use it for yourself. If you're required to stay on the premises or on call, that time may count as hours worked. Elsewhere, split shift allowances usually come from union contracts or, in Australia, from the relevant modern award.
Calculate it
The Hours Worked Calculator takes up to three sessions in a day and adds them up. For a full week of split shifts with overtime, use the Time Card Calculator; then check the California premium by hand with the formula above.