If you work for more than 40 hours a week, you deserve overtime pay. This is true for hourly workers across the country. Some workers with employment contracts and salaries may not be paid overtime, but hourly workers should be.
This is also true in California, where the 40-hour workweek applies. But it’s important to know that California laws are a bit different than those in many other states.
Exceeding eight hours
Most notably, California authorizes overtime payments any time someone works more than eight hours during the day. If someone worked nine hours every day for five days in a row, they would’ve worked a total of 45 hours. They would be paid overtime for five of those hours.
But the difference is that this can be done on a daily basis. Say that someone only worked one day a week, meaning they put in just nine hours for the week. In other states, they wouldn’t get overtime pay. But in California, they would still be owed time and a half for that ninth hour.
Exceeding 12 hours
California also authorizes double-time pay when someone works more than 12 hours in a row. This means they should be paid twice their standard rate. Once again, it doesn’t matter how many hours they put in cumulatively during the week. Even if they only work once a week, if they work for 13 hours, they would receive their standard wage for the first eight, overtime pay for the next four and double time for the final hour.
It’s important for both employers and employees to understand how these overtime laws work and what legal steps they need to take if they become involved in a dispute.