California Overtime Rules: Daily OT, Double Time & Who Qualifies

California has the most employee-friendly overtime laws in the United States. While federal law only requires time and a half after 40 hours in a week, California adds daily overtime — and even double time — on top of that. If you work in California, the number on your paycheck depends on rules that most workers outside the state never encounter. This guide breaks them down plainly, with the current 2026 figures and a fully worked pay example.

Quick answer: In California, non-exempt employees earn 1.5× their regular rate after 8 hours in a day or 40 in a week, and for the first 8 hours on a 7th consecutive workday. They earn 2× (double time) after 12 hours in a day and after 8 hours on the 7th consecutive workday. Executive, administrative, professional, and certain other employees are exempt only if they pass both a salary test and a duties test.

What Counts as Overtime in California?

California overtime is built on the workday and the workweek, not just the week. A workday is any consecutive 24-hour period starting when your employer’s designated workday begins; a workweek is seven consecutive 24-hour periods (168 hours). Here is the basic structure for non-exempt employees:

• Time and a half (1.5×) for hours worked beyond 8 in a single workday, up to and including 12 hours.
• Time and a half (1.5×) for hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek.
• Time and a half (1.5×) for the first 8 hours worked on the 7th consecutive day in a workweek.
• Double time (2×) for hours worked beyond 12 in a single workday.
• Double time (2×) for hours worked beyond 8 on the 7th consecutive day in a workweek.

Two details trip people up. First, the “7th consecutive day” counts consecutive days worked within the same workweek — not just any seven-day stretch. If your workweek starts Monday and you work straight through Sunday, Sunday is the 7th consecutive day. Second, daily and weekly overtime can stack in effect: a long shift can earn daily overtime even in a week where you total fewer than 40 hours.

When Does Double Time Kick In?

Double time is where California truly stands apart — no other state mandates it. There are two triggers, both tied to the rules above:

• More than 12 hours in one workday. Hours 13, 14, 15, and beyond are all paid at twice your regular rate.
• More than 8 hours on the 7th consecutive workday. The first 8 hours of that day are paid at time and a half; everything after is double time.

Since January 1, 2025, California’s agricultural workers have been fully covered by the same daily and weekly overtime rules — including double time after 12 hours — after a multi-year phase-in that brought farmworkers under the standard rules regardless of employer size. Some unionized employees may be covered by different overtime provisions if their collective bargaining agreement provides premium pay for overtime hours and a regular rate at least 30% above the state minimum wage.

Who Qualifies for Overtime — and Who Is Exempt?

The rules above apply to non-exempt employees — which includes most hourly workers and many salaried ones. To be exempt from overtime under California’s executive, administrative, or professional exemptions, an employee must pass both a duties test (the job must genuinely involve management or specialized professional work) and a salary test:

• White-collar exemptions (executive, administrative, professional): must earn at least $70,304 per year in 2026 — exactly twice the state minimum wage ($16.90/hour) for full-time work. A salaried employee earning less than this is generally entitled to overtime regardless of job title.
• Computer software professionals: must earn at least $58.85 per hour (or $122,573.13 per year) in 2026, adjusted annually.
• Licensed physicians and surgeons: must earn more than $107.17 per hour to be exempt.
• Outside salespeople and certain other categories have their own exemption rules.

The salary threshold rises every January alongside the minimum wage, so a worker properly classified as exempt in 2025 (when the floor was $68,640) may need a raise or reclassification in 2026. Job titles do not decide exemption — duties and pay do. If you are unsure which side you fall on, California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement publishes the current thresholds each year.

A Worked Example: A 13-Hour Shift at $20/Hour

Say you are a non-exempt warehouse worker earning a regular rate of $20 per hour, and one day you work a 13-hour shift. Here is exactly how California splits that shift:

• First 8 hours at regular rate: 8 × $20 = $160.00
• Hours 9–12 (4 hours) at time and a half: 4 × $30 = $120.00
• Hour 13 (1 hour) at double time: 1 × $40 = $40.00
• Total for the 13-hour shift: $320.00

That is an effective average of about $24.62 per hour for the shift — nearly 25% above the base rate. Under federal rules alone (which ignore daily hours), the same worker would only earn daily overtime if the week exceeded 40 hours; a single long shift in an otherwise short week would pay just $260. The difference is pure California law. Try your own hours anytime with our free overtime pay calculator.

How Is California Overtime Taxed?

Overtime and double-time pay are taxed as ordinary income — there is no special overtime tax rate. What changes is withholding: because a paycheck with overtime looks larger, your employer may withhold tax at a higher supplemental rate for that check, so a fat overtime check can arrive with a surprisingly big tax bite. Your actual tax bill, though, is settled when you file your return. We break down the full picture in How Overtime Pay Is Taxed in the US.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do California overtime rules apply to salaried employees? Often, yes. “Salaried” is not the same as “exempt.” A salaried employee is entitled to overtime unless the job meets both the duties test and the salary test — at least $70,304 per year in 2026 for the standard white-collar exemptions. Many salaried supervisors and office workers legally qualify for overtime.

What is the 7th consecutive day rule? If you work seven consecutive days within the same workweek, the first 8 hours on the 7th day are paid at time and a half, and any hours beyond 8 that day are paid at double time. Days you did not work do not count toward the seven.

Do part-time workers get overtime in California? Yes — the rules depend on hours worked, not full-time or part-time status. A part-timer who works a 10-hour shift earns 2 hours of daily overtime even if the weekly total stays under 40 hours.

Can my employer use a 4/10 schedule to avoid daily overtime? Only through a properly adopted alternative workweek schedule, which requires a secret-ballot election among affected employees and registration with the state. Even then, overtime still applies beyond 10 hours in a day, and beyond 40 in a week.

Can my employer average my hours across two weeks to avoid overtime? No. Overtime is calculated per workday and per workweek; averaging across pay periods is not allowed. Each workweek stands alone.

California’s rules are generous, but they are also precise — daily thresholds, the 7th-day rule, and the exemption tests all have sharp edges. Run your own shift through the overtime pay calculator to see exactly what each hour is worth.