California overtime pay laws: when do I get overtime?
Short answer
California pays overtime by the day and by the week. Work over 8 hours in a workday or over 40 hours in a workweek is paid at one and a half times your regular rate. Work over 12 hours in a day is paid at double your regular rate.
Check your situation
Which hours are you asking about?
"Any work in excess of eight hours in one workday" is paid at "no less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay." This is the general rule. An alternative workweek schedule or a union contract can change it; see "The details."
"Any work in excess of 12 hours in one day" is paid at "no less than twice the regular rate of pay." This is the general rule. Under an alternative workweek schedule, work over 12 hours a day is still paid at double. A qualifying union contract can set its own overtime terms instead; see "The details."
"Any work in excess of 40 hours in any one workweek" is paid at "no less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay." A workweek is "any seven consecutive days, starting with the same calendar day each week."
"The first eight hours worked on the seventh day of work in any one workweek" are paid at one and a half times the regular rate. "Any work in excess of eight hours on any seventh day of a workweek" is paid at twice the regular rate.
A salary alone does not end overtime. The exemption for executive, administrative and professional employees needs all of these: you are "primarily engaged in the duties that meet the test of the exemption," you "customarily and regularly" exercise "discretion and independent judgment," and you earn at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work. For 2026 that floor is $70,304 a year.
What the law says
California counts overtime by the day and by the week. The Labor Code says “Eight hours of labor constitutes a day’s work” (§ 510(a)). After that, these rates apply:
- Over 8 hours in one workday: at least one and a half times your regular rate of pay.
- Over 40 hours in one workweek: at least one and a half times your regular rate.
- The first 8 hours on the seventh day of work in one workweek: at least one and a half times your regular rate.
- Over 12 hours in one day: at least twice your regular rate.
- Over 8 hours on the seventh day of a workweek: at least twice your regular rate.
A “workday” is “any consecutive 24-hour period commencing at the same time each calendar day.” A “workweek” is “any seven consecutive days, starting with the same calendar day each week” (§ 500).
An agreement to take less does not cancel unpaid overtime. The law on recovering it applies “notwithstanding any agreement to work for a lesser wage” (§ 1194(a)).
The details
What counts as time worked. Wage Order 4 defines “hours worked” as “the time during which an employee is subject to the control of an employer.” It “includes all the time the employee is suffered or permitted to work, whether or not required to do so” (Wage Order 4, 8 CCR § 11040, section 2(L)).
If you are paid a salary but are not exempt. Your hourly rate for overtime is “1/40th of the employee’s weekly salary.” A fixed salary pays “only for the employee’s regular, nonovertime hours, notwithstanding any private agreement to the contrary” (§ 515(d)).
Exempt employees. Some executive, administrative and professional employees are exempt from overtime. Whether you are exempt depends on facts the statute names. You must be “primarily engaged in the duties that meet the test of the exemption.” “Primarily” means “more than one-half of the employee’s worktime.” You must “customarily and regularly” exercise “discretion and independent judgment.” And you must earn “a monthly salary equivalent to no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment” (§ 515(a), (e)). Full-time means 40 hours a week (§ 515(c)). With the 2026 state minimum wage of $16.90, the Department of Industrial Relations puts that floor at $70,304 a year in 2026. Your wage order spells out the duties for each exemption.
Alternative workweek schedules. Employees can vote for a schedule of up to 10 hours a day “within a 40-hour workweek” without daily overtime. The vote must be “a secret ballot election by at least two-thirds of affected employees in a readily identifiable work unit.” Work beyond the agreed schedule, or over 40 hours a week, is still paid at one and a half times. Work over 12 hours a day is paid at double (§ 511(a), (b)).
Union contracts. The overtime rules in §§ 510 and 511 do not apply if a valid union contract “expressly provides for the wages, hours of work, and working conditions of the employees,” pays “premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked,” and pays at least “30 percent more than the state minimum wage” (§ 514).
Farmworkers. Separate sections of the Labor Code (§§ 860 to 864) cover “any person employed in an agricultural occupation.” Since January 1, 2025, for employers of every size, it sets overtime after 8 hours in a workday or 40 hours in a workweek (§ 860(d)), and double time after 12 hours in a day (§ 862).
Other rules. There are separate wage orders for different industries and jobs. They list more exemptions and special rules. Wage Order 4, for example, has its own rules for some employees paid mostly by commission and for drivers whose hours federal or state driver rules regulate (8 CCR § 11040, section 3(D) and (K)). This guide covers the general state rules.
What to do next
- Track your hours. The Labor Commissioner says to “Write down the time you begin and end work every day,” along with your breaks and total hours.
- Keep every pay stub. Compare the overtime hours and rates on each one with your own record.
- File a wage claim if overtime was not paid. The Labor Commissioner’s Office takes wage claims online, by email, by mail or in person. Its page says to file “Within three years for violations of minimum wage, overtime.”
- Know that complaining is protected. An employer may not fire or retaliate against you because you “made a written or oral complaint that they are owed unpaid wages” (§ 98.6(a)). If it acts against you within 90 days of that complaint, the law sets “a rebuttable presumption in favor of the employee’s claim” (§ 98.6(b)(1)).
This guide covers California state law. It is legal information, not legal advice.
Sources
- Labor Code § 510, Overtime: 8 hours a day, 40 a week, the seventh day, and double time
- Labor Code § 500, Workday and workweek defined
- Labor Code § 1194, An agreement to work for less does not cancel overtime
- 8 CCR § 11040 (Wage Order 4), Hours worked; overtime under the wage order
- Labor Code § 515, Exempt employees; salaried employees who are not exempt
- Department of Industrial Relations, News Release 2025-118, 2026 minimum wage and the exempt salary floor
- Labor Code § 511, Alternative workweek schedules
- Labor Code § 514, Union contracts
- Labor Code § 860, Overtime for agricultural workers
- Labor Code § 862, Double time for agricultural workers
- Labor Code § 98.6, Protection for complaining about unpaid wages
- Labor Commissioner, How to File a Wage Claim, How to file a wage claim, and filing deadlines