California Overtime Rules: Daily OT and Double Time Explained
California pays overtime on a daily clock, not just a weekly one. Nonexempt employees earn 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 8 in a day (up to 12), double time for hours over 12, and on the seventh consecutive day of work, 1.5x for the first 8 hours and double time after that. The federal 40-hour weekly rule applies too, and you always get whichever standard pays more.
Most states follow the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and only count overtime after 40 hours in a week. California does not work that way. Under the Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders, which the California Department of Industrial Relations enforces, the overtime clock starts ticking the moment your eighth hour of the day begins. A single 10-hour shift earns you 2 hours of overtime pay even if you take the rest of the week off. That daily trigger is the single biggest difference between California and federal overtime law, and it is the rule that surprises the most workers.
The three daily tiers
California law sorts every workday into three tiers. Hours 1 through 8 are straight time at your regular rate. Hours 9 through 12 earn one and one-half times your regular rate. Any hour past the twelfth earns double your regular rate. A 13-hour day at a $20 regular rate pays $160 for the first 8 hours, $120 for the next 4 hours (4 x $30), and $40 for the final hour (1 x $40), for a day total of $320. Notice that the daily tiers stack inside a single shift: you do not pick one rate for the day.
The regular rate works the same way it does under federal law. It is your total compensation for the week, including nondiscretionary bonuses and shift differentials, divided by the hours you worked. California wage orders add one clarifying rule for salaried workers: a nonexempt full-time salaried employee's regular hourly rate is one-fortieth of the weekly salary. If you earn $800 a week in salary and work 50 hours, your regular rate is $20 per hour, your overtime rate is $30, and your 10 overtime hours add $300 to the week.
The seventh consecutive day
The seventh-day rule is the part most payroll systems get wrong. When you work seven consecutive days in the same workweek, the seventh day gets special treatment: the first 8 hours earn 1.5 times your regular rate, and every hour after 8 earns double time. This is true even if your daily hours on the seventh day are short. An employee who works six 8-hour days and then puts in 6 hours on day seven earns 1.5x for all 6 of those seventh-day hours.
There are two limits worth knowing. First, the seventh-day premium requires seven consecutive days of work in the workweek. Six days, or seven days with a break in between, does not trigger it. Second, the premium hours on the seventh day still count toward the weekly 40-hour check. California does not let the same hour earn two premiums. A common payroll mistake is to pay the seventh-day premium and then also pay weekly overtime on the same hours. The correct approach is to pay the higher of the two standards for each hour, never both.
The weekly check still runs
California keeps the federal 40-hour weekly threshold on top of the daily rules. After the daily premiums are assigned, any straight-time hours beyond 40 in the week pick up the 1.5x weekly premium. Take six 8-hour days: no daily overtime fires, because no day exceeded 8 hours, but the week totals 48 hours, so the 8 hours over 40 earn time and a half. Take five 10-hour days: each day contributes 2 daily overtime hours, the week totals 50, and after the daily premiums are set, 40 straight-time hours remain, so the weekly check adds nothing more. The two systems overlap, and the worker keeps the better result for every hour.
Alternative workweeks and makeup time
Employers can escape the daily trigger, but only through a formal alternative workweek election. If two-thirds of the affected employees vote for it, a schedule like four 10-hour days becomes the norm: the first 10 hours of each scheduled day are straight time, hours 10 through 12 earn 1.5x, and hours past 12 earn double time. Hours beyond 40 in the week still earn 1.5x. An employer cannot simply declare a 4x10 schedule; the election procedures in the wage orders have to be followed, and the agreement has to be in writing.
Makeup time is a narrower exception. At your written request, you can make up hours you missed in the same workweek at straight time, as long as the makeup hours do not push any day past 11 hours or the week past 40. Your employer cannot require makeup time, and cannot ask you to sign a standing makeup-time authorization in advance. It is a one-time, employee-requested arrangement.
Who these rules cover
The daily overtime and double-time rules apply to nonexempt employees age 18 and older, and to 16- and 17-year-olds who are not required to attend school and are not otherwise barred from the work. They do not apply to properly classified exempt employees, and California's salary test for exemption is higher than the federal one: at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time employment. Because California's minimum wage is well above the federal $7.25, the California exempt threshold is far above the federal $35,568 per year figure. Meeting the salary number alone is never enough; the duties test still has to be satisfied.
One more California-specific point for tipped workers: California does not allow a tip credit. Tips belong to the employee on top of the full minimum wage, which also means the regular rate math for tipped employees is simpler than the federal version. If you earn tips in California, every dollar of your cash wage counts toward your regular rate.
Check your own pay
The fastest way to see these rules in action is to run your actual schedule through our overtime pay calculator with the California setting. Enter each day's hours and it will apply the daily tiers, the seventh-day rule, and the weekly check in order. Compare the result to your pay stub. If the stub is short, the discrepancy usually comes from one of three places: the employer used your base rate instead of your true regular rate, the seventh-day premium is missing, or daily hours were averaged into the week. Any of those is worth a calm, documented conversation with your employer, and if that goes nowhere, the California Labor Commissioner's office takes wage claims from workers directly.
Rules current as of October 2026. Sources: California Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders (dir.ca.gov); U.S. Department of Labor Fact Sheet #23 (dol.gov).