How to use the California overtime calculator
- The Overtime rule selector already sits on California, so daily, weekly and seventh-day premiums apply. Leave it there unless you are comparing against the federal rule.
- Set Weeks to 1 or 2 and type the period dates. Start the grid on the first day of your employer's designated workweek, since premiums are figured inside one workweek, not across a pay period.
- Enter each day's In and Out. Add the unpaid meal in Break (minutes), or switch on Two shifts per day.
- Enter your Hourly rate. The 1.5x and 2x tiers are multiplied from it, so use your regular rate of pay, not a base wage that leaves out other earnings.
- Read the Regular, Overtime 1.5x, Double time 2x and Gross pay tiles, then Print or Download CSV.
The four California premium rules
California is one of the few states with daily overtime, and it layers thresholds. For non-exempt employees:
- Over 8 hours in a workday: 1.5x the regular rate, covering hours 9 through 12.
- Over 12 hours in a workday: 2x for every hour past the twelfth.
- Over 40 hours in a workweek: 1.5x.
- Seventh consecutive day worked in one workweek: 1.5x for the first 8 hours, 2x beyond 8.
A workday is a fixed 24-hour period and a workweek is seven consecutive 24-hour periods, each starting when your employer designates. That designation decides which shift belongs to which day and whether a stretch of work is really seven consecutive days inside one workweek.
How daily and weekly overtime avoid double counting
The thresholds do not stack. Each hour is paid once, at the highest premium it earns. The 40-hour weekly test looks only at straight-time hours, meaning hours not already lifted by the daily or seventh-day rule. So weekly overtime appears only when someone accumulates more than 40 hours of ordinary, sub-8-hour days. Four 12-hour days produce 16 hours of daily overtime and no weekly overtime at all, because only 32 straight-time hours were logged.
Worked example: a 13-hour day inside a 7-day week
Workweek runs Monday through Sunday. Regular rate is $25.00 an hour.
| Day | Hours | Straight time | 1.5x | 2x |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Tue | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| Wed | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Thu | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Fri | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Sat | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Sun (7th day) | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Total | 57 | 46 | 10 | 1 |
Tuesday is the long day: hours 1 through 8 are straight time, hours 9 through 12 are four at 1.5x, and hour 13 is one at 2x. Sunday is the seventh consecutive day worked in this workweek, so all six of its hours pay 1.5x even though the day is short.
Now the weekly test. Straight-time hours are 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 6 = 46, since Sunday contributed none. That exceeds 40 by 6, so six straight-time hours move up to 1.5x, and those six are Saturday's.
Final tally: 40 hours straight time, 16 at 1.5x (Tuesday's 4, Sunday's 6, Saturday's 6) and 1 at 2x, covering all 57 hours with none counted twice. Pay works out to 40 x $25.00 = $1,000.00, plus 16 x $37.50 = $600.00, plus 1 x $50.00 = $50.00, for a gross of $1,650.00.
Regular rate of pay, exemptions and alternative schedules
Premiums are multiples of the regular rate of pay, which is not always the wage on your offer letter. The regular rate generally takes in shift differentials, piece rate earnings, commissions and nondiscretionary bonuses, spread across the hours they were earned for, while a truly discretionary gift bonus and reimbursed expenses are left out. If your pay has several components, work out the regular rate first and enter that as the Hourly rate, or the premium tiers come out low.
These rules protect non-exempt employees. Exemptions exist, most commonly executive, administrative and professional, and each requires both a salary at or above a defined threshold and duties that actually match. Separate treatments apply to certain computer professionals, outside salespeople, some healthcare roles and union agreements. A job title alone never establishes an exemption.
A properly adopted alternative workweek schedule moves the daily trigger. Where a work unit adopted one by the required secret ballot election, four 10-hour days run without daily overtime up to the scheduled length. On a 4/10 or 9/80 arrangement, confirm it was formally adopted before assuming the 8-hour trigger is gone.
This page describes general rules and is not legal advice. Wage orders differ by industry. For anything with money or a dispute attached, check with the California Labor Commissioner's office or an attorney.
Frequently asked questions
Do California daily and weekly overtime stack on the same hour?
No. Each hour pays once, at the highest rate it earns. The 40-hour threshold is measured only against straight-time hours, so an hour already paid at 1.5x for exceeding 8 in a day is not counted again toward 40.
When does double time start in California?
After 12 hours in a single workday, and after 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day worked in a workweek. A 14-hour shift pays 8 at straight time, 4 at 1.5x and 2 at 2x.
Is the seventh-day rule about any seven days in a row?
It applies to the seventh consecutive day worked within one designated workweek. A run that straddles the boundary between two workweeks generally does not trigger it, which is why your employer's workweek start day matters here.
Do I get daily overtime on a 10-hour day under a 4/10 schedule?
Not if the alternative workweek schedule was properly adopted by the required election for your work unit, in which case the premium begins past the scheduled hours. Without a valid adoption, the 8-hour trigger still applies.
Does an unpaid 30-minute meal break count toward the 8-hour daily threshold?
No. A duty-free unpaid meal is not hours worked, so 8:00 to 17:00 with a 30-minute lunch is 8.5 hours worked and produces half an hour of daily overtime, not one hour.
Can a salaried employee be owed California overtime?
Yes. A salary does not by itself make someone exempt. The employee has to meet both the salary level and the duties test for a recognized exemption, and salaried non-exempt employees earn the same premiums.
For a premium estimate from a weekly hours figure instead of a full grid, use the overtime calculator. To compare California against other states, see overtime rules by state, and for a plain federal sheet use the timesheet calculator.