California Overtime Laws (2023)

Barring certain exceptions, employers are generally required to pay non-exempt employees for overtime hours at 1.5 times the regular hourly rate. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt implemented overtime in 1938 during the Great Depression as a way to encourage employers to hire more workers and spread work more evenly among them.

Weekly Overtime

Under federal law, employees earn overtime only for hours worked over 40 hours in a week - so-called "weekly overtime".

However, California added two unique types of overtime to weekly overtime.

Daily Overtime

First, there is "daily overtime" - earned by employees whenever they work over 8 hours in a day. So if an employee works 10 hours in a single day, the employee would be entitled to 2 hours of "daily overtime" pay.

Seventh-Day Overtime

Second, there is "seventh-day overtime" - earned by employees only for the first 8 hours worked on the seventh day whenever they work seven consecutive days in a row during any employer-defined workweek. For example, if an employer defined-workweek runs from Sunday to Saturday (as is often the case), and if an employee worked on all seven days from Sunday to Saturday (even if it's only a few minutes on some of the days), then the employee would be entitled to overtime pay for up to 8 hours worked on Saturday (the seventh day).

California also added double overtime. There are two types of double overtime.

Daily Double Overtime

First, there is "daily double overtime" - earned by employees whenever they work over 12 hours in a day. So if an employee works 14 hours in a single day, the employee would be entitled to 2 hours of "daily double overtime" pay (in addition to 4 hours of "daily overtime" pay).

Seventh-Day Double Overtime

Second, there is "seventh-day double overtime" - earned by employees only after they have exceeded 8 hours of work on the seventh day whenever they work seven consecutive days in a row during any employer-defined workweek. For example, if an employer defined-workweek runs from Sunday to Saturday (as is often the case), and if an employee worked on all seven days from Sunday to Saturday (even if it's only a few minutes on some of the days) and if the employee worked 10 hours on that Saturday, then the employee would be entitled to 2 hours of seventh-day double overtime pay (in addition to 8 hours of "seventh-day daily overtime" pay).

How To Calculate

California labor laws dictate that employers must use whichever combination of the above types of overtime results in the greatest amount of overtime pay for the employee.

Confusing, right? No need to worry. Our calculator above accurately calculates California overtime and double-overtime for all scenarios. Note: there are many exceptions under California labor law that may apply to your particular situation. Always consult with a labor attorney.