California Overtime Laws

Quick Guide to California Overtime Laws

California Overtime Laws

One of the greatest resources for information for California overtime law is the following website listed under the California Department of Industrial Relations:

Here you can find information that supplements all information located within this article. If you believe your employer is not following California overtime law—even if you have worked unauthorized hours—you can file a wage claim. If you file a wage claim, you should take the following steps to receive your overtime pay:

1. File the claim with your local office of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which will be assigned to the Deputy Labor Commissioner who will determine if there is an issue or not.

2. If there is a conference scheduled, each party will be notified of the date, time, and place of the conference. If the claim is not resolved, the matter will enter a hearing or be dismissed for a lack of evidence.

3. The court will hear testimony from all parties and make a decision and order an award. The employer has the ability to appeal the decision under California overtime laws, but the court’s decisions always favor the employee.

In accordance to California overtime laws, an employer can force an employee to work overtime as long as the employee was notified of this possibility within the interview and receives overtime pay for the mandatory overtime. If an employee refuses to work, they may face punishment or termination from their employer.

California Overtime Law and Calculating Overtime Pay

California labor laws specify that overtime must be handled in several different ways, but as always, there are certain exemptions to the rates of pay listed below:

1. An employee is usually paid one and one-half times for hours worked in a workday between more than 8 hours and up to 12 hours, or for the first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive day of the workweek.

2. An employee is usually paid double their regular pay rate according to California overtime law when they have worked more than 12 hours in one day or for hours worked above eight hours on the 7th consecutive day in the workweek.

Additionally, California overtime law usually calculates overtime different ways according to the type of compensation the employee receives:

1. Salary- monthly pay X 12 / annual salary / maximum about of regular hours under California overtime law

2. Commission- the piece of commission rate is usually used as the regular rate, and you are paid one and one-half for overtime hours and double time for more than 8 hours. Then calculate total earnings for the workweek / total hours worked during the workweek

California overtime laws treat every day the same. California overtime law does not give preference to any day of the week or any hours worked on a holiday. Therefore, no overtime pay is required during the holidays or weekends. However, even though no California overtime law states that an employer needs to pay their employee more during the holiday, most employers need to offer such incentive to motivate their employees to work.

For more information on holidays and California overtime laws, visit the following website.