California Overtime Calculator

California overtime rules explained

California has some of the most generous overtime laws in the United States. Federal law (the Fair Labor Standards Act) only requires time-and-a-half after 40 hours in a week. California adds daily overtime, double time and a special rule for the seventh consecutive day of work. According to the California Department of Industrial Relations, non-exempt employees must be paid:

• 1.5× the regular rate for hours over 8 and up to 12 in a workday;
• 2× the regular rate for hours over 12 in a workday;
• 1.5× for hours over 40 in a workweek;
• 1.5× for the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek, and 2× after 8 hours that day.

How to use the calculator

1. Enter your regular hourly rate of pay.
2. Type the hours you worked on each day of your employer’s workweek, starting with its first day.
3. Leave a day blank if you didn’t work it, or use a preset such as 5 × 8 hours.
4. Read your gross pay, and check the table to see how every hour was classified.

How daily and weekly overtime work together

The trickiest part of California overtime is combining the daily and weekly rules without counting any hour twice. The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement’s position is that there is no pyramiding: an hour already paid at a daily overtime rate doesn’t count toward the 40-hour weekly limit. This calculator follows that approach. It works through the week in order, adds up only regular (non-overtime) hours, and once those pass 40, moves any further regular hours to time-and-a-half.

Example: at $25 an hour you work 8, 10, 9, 13, 8 and 6 hours over six days (54 hours). Days two to four produce 7 hours of daily overtime and 1 hour of double time. By the end of day five you’ve worked 40 regular hours, so all 6 hours on day six become overtime. The total is 40 regular hours ($1,000), 13 overtime hours ($487.50) and 1 double-time hour ($50), for $1,537.50 — compared with $1,525 under federal rules alone.

The seventh-day rule

If you work all seven days of a single workweek, every hour on the seventh day is premium pay: the first 8 at 1.5× and any beyond 8 at 2×. The rule is based on your employer’s fixed workweek, not any seven days in a row — so seven straight days that span two workweeks don’t trigger it. The calculator applies it automatically when all seven day boxes have hours.

Exceptions to keep in mind

• Exempt employees who meet the duties and salary tests aren’t entitled to overtime.
• Alternative workweek schedules (such as four 10-hour days) adopted by a secret-ballot vote change the daily threshold.
• Some industries, including agriculture and certain health-care roles, follow different wage orders.
• Your regular rate can include non-discretionary bonuses, commissions and shift differentials.

Work as a contractor instead? 1099 workers aren’t covered by overtime law, but they do owe self-employment tax — see the Self-Employment Tax Calculator and the 1099 Quarterly Estimated Tax Calculator.