California Overtime Calculator

How California overtime and double time laws work

California maintains some of the strongest worker protections in the United States. Unlike federal law under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which only mandates overtime after 40 hours in a workweek, California Labor Code Section 510 enforces strict daily overtime, weekly overtime, and daily double time compensation for non-exempt employees.

Under California law for 2026, overtime is calculated on both a 24-hour workday basis and a 168-hour workweek basis. Whether you work long single shifts, irregular workweeks, or seven consecutive days, this calculator determines your exact gross earnings, regular wages, 1.5x overtime, and 2.0x double time pay. If you frequently work extended healthcare or factory rotations, you can also explore our 12-hour shift pay calculator to examine multi-shift pay structures.

California overtime pay tiers explained

California overtime rules categorize work into three primary compensation tiers:

1. Daily overtime (1.5x regular rate)

Employees earn one and one-half times their regular rate of pay (time-and-a-half) for:

• All hours worked in excess of 8 hours, up to and including 12 hours, in any single workday.
• The first 8 hours worked on the seventh consecutive day of work in a single workweek.

2. Daily double time (2.0x regular rate)

Employees earn double their regular rate of pay (double time) for:

• All hours worked in excess of 12 hours in any single workday.
• All hours worked in excess of 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of work in a single workweek.

3. Weekly overtime (1.5x regular rate)

Employees earn one and one-half times their regular rate for any regular (non-overtime) hours worked in excess of 40 hours during a single workweek.

Preventing overtime pyramiding

A critical principle in California wage law is the prohibition of overtime pyramiding or double-counting. Hours that have already been compensated at the daily overtime rate (1.5x) or daily double time rate (2.0x) are not counted toward the 40-hour weekly threshold.

For example, if an employee works four 10-hour days (Monday through Thursday), they work 32 regular hours and 8 daily overtime hours. Because only 32 hours are regular hours, they have not yet hit the 40-hour regular weekly threshold. If they work 8 hours on Friday, the first 8 hours bring regular weekly hours to 40 at straight time, while the daily overtime already earned remains compensated at 1.5x.

The seventh consecutive day rule

California Labor Code Section 510 provides special protections when an employer requires or permits an employee to work all seven days of a designated workweek. On the seventh consecutive day:

• Hours 1 through 8: Paid at 1.5x the employee regular hourly rate, even if the total weekly hours worked are under 40.
• Hours beyond 8: Paid at 2.0x the employee regular hourly rate.

Note that the seventh day rule only applies when all seven days fall within the same established employer workweek (a fixed 168-hour recurring cycle), not across two overlapping payroll weeks.

Comprehensive worked example

Consider an employee earning an hourly regular rate of $25.00 per hour who works the following schedule across a single workweek:

• Monday: 10 hours (8 regular hours + 2 daily overtime hours)
• Tuesday: 14 hours (8 regular hours + 4 daily overtime hours + 2 double time hours)
• Wednesday: 8 hours (8 regular hours)
• Thursday: 8 hours (8 regular hours)
• Friday: 8 hours (8 regular hours)
• Saturday: 6 hours (6 regular hours from the 6th day)
• Sunday (Day 7): 8 hours (7th consecutive day: 8 overtime hours at 1.5x)

Let us calculate the total pay step by step:

1. Candidate regular hours (Days 1 to 6): 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 6 = 46 hours. Since 46 exceeds the 40-hour weekly threshold, 40 hours are paid at regular time ($25.00/hr = $1,000.00), and 6 hours become weekly overtime (at $37.50/hr = $225.00).
2. Daily overtime (Days 1 to 6): 2 hours on Monday + 4 hours on Tuesday = 6 hours at $37.50/hr = $225.00.
3. Seventh consecutive day overtime: 8 hours on Sunday at $37.50/hr = $300.00.
4. Double time hours: 2 hours on Tuesday (over 12 hours) at $50.00/hr = $100.00.
5. Total gross earnings: $1,000.00 (regular) + $750.00 (20 overtime hours) + $100.00 (2 double time hours) = $1,850.00 across 62 total hours worked.

The effective hourly rate for this week is $1,850 / 62 = $29.84 per hour. To see how your total weekly earnings translate into biweekly paychecks or annualized salary, compare with our biweekly pay calculator. If you also earn discretionary or non-discretionary bonuses, use the bonus calculator to see how supplemental wages interact with your base compensation.

Exemptions and special employment situations

Not all workers in California are entitled to statutory overtime pay. Key exemptions include:

• White-Collar Exemptions: Executive, administrative, and professional employees who spend more than 50% of their working time performing exempt duties and earn a monthly salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time employment.
• Alternative Workweek Schedules: Employers and non-exempt work units that have adopted a legally compliant alternative workweek agreement (such as four 10-hour days without daily overtime for hours 9 and 10) through a valid two-thirds secret ballot election.
• Independent Contractors: Legitimate 1099 contractors are not employees and do not receive statutory overtime protections. If you work as an independent contractor or freelancer, use our 1099 tax calculator to estimate self-employment tax obligations, or evaluate client rate pricing with our billable hours calculator.

Frequently asked questions