California Overtime Calculator
Work out California overtime and double time day by day: 1.5x past 8 hours, 2x past 12, the 7th-day rule, and a 40-hour weekly test that does not double-count.
California Overtime Calculator
Pay rate and schedule
Your base hourly rate. If you also get a nondiscretionary bonus, shift differential, or commission, open the bonus card below. California overtime is owed on the regular rate, not the base rate.
Your employer defines a fixed, recurring seven-day workweek. It does not have to start on Sunday, but it cannot be changed to dodge overtime. The day rows below relabel themselves to match.
Alternative workweek schedules are only valid if adopted by secret-ballot election with two-thirds approval and filed with the DLSE (Labor Code 511). If yours was not, the standard 8-hour rules apply and you may be owed daily overtime.
Only pick an alternative workweek if your employer adopted one properly. Otherwise the standard 8/12 rules apply.
Hours worked each day
A workday is 24 consecutive hours (Labor Code 500), so entries are capped at 24. Hours past midnight belong to the next workday unless your employer's workday starts elsewhere.
Enter hours actually worked, meaning clock time minus unpaid meal breaks. Do not include vacation, holiday, sick, or PTO hours: paid leave is not hours worked and does not count toward overtime. Need to turn clock-in and clock-out times into hours first? Use the timesheet hours calculator.
Seventh consecutive day
You have six days in a row here. If your seventh consecutive day falls in the next workweek, the seventh-day premium does not apply to it. Check the workweek start day above.
The seventh-day premium applies only when all seven days of one workweek are worked. Seven days in a row that straddle two workweeks (say Thursday through Wednesday) do not trigger it, which is exactly why the workweek start day matters.
Bonus and commission (optional)
A flat-sum bonus is divided by non-overtime hours actually worked. There are no straight-time hours in this week, so no bonus overtime premium can be computed. The bonus is still added to gross.
Only nondiscretionary pay counts: attendance bonuses, production bonuses, shift differentials, commissions, anything promised in advance. A true year-end gift the employer decides on at its own discretion stays out of the regular rate.
Rates are per hour. The effective average rate is total gross divided by total hours worked.
Per-day breakdown
| Day | Hours | Straight | 1.5x | 2x | Day pay | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | |
| Monday | 8.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $200.00 | |
| Tuesday | 8.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $200.00 | |
| Wednesday | 10.00 | 8.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | $275.00 | Daily OT |
| Thursday | 8.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $200.00 | |
| Friday | 13.00 | 8.00 | 4.00 | 1.00 | $400.00 | Daily OT, Double time |
| Saturday | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | |
| Week | 47.00 | 40.00 | 6.00 | 1.00 | $1,275.00 |
The weekly 40-hour test added nothing this week: after daily overtime came out, only 40.00 straight-time hours were left.
How California overtime is calculated, hour by hour
California is the daily-overtime state. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act has no daily rule at all, which is why a generic national payroll calculator will quietly underpay a California week. Labor Code 510 sets the triggers below, and any hour that hits one of them is premium pay:
| Trigger | Rate |
|---|---|
| Hours over 8 in a workday, up to and including 12 | 1.5x |
| Hours over 12 in a workday | 2x |
| Straight-time hours over 40 in a workweek | 1.5x |
| First 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of a workweek | 1.5x |
| Hours past 8 on the seventh consecutive day of a workweek | 2x |
Take the default week loaded above: 8, 8, 10, 8, and 13 hours across five days, 47 hours in all, at $25 an hour. The 10-hour day breaks into 8 straight-time hours and 2 at time and a half. The 13-hour day breaks into 8 straight-time hours, 4 at time and a half (hours 9 through 12), and 1 at double time (hour 13). Straight-time hours land on exactly 40, so the weekly test has nothing to do. Gross for the week is $1,000 straight time plus $225 at 1.5x plus $50 at 2x, or $1,275.
One definition does a lot of work here: hours worked means clock time minus unpaid meal periods. Vacation, holiday, sick, and PTO hours are not hours worked, so they count toward none of these thresholds, even though they sit on the same pay stub.
Why daily and weekly overtime do not stack (the non-pyramiding rule)
This is the part most free calculators get wrong. The 40-hour weekly test runs on straight-time hours only. Once an hour has been paid as daily overtime or daily double time, it leaves the pool and cannot be counted again toward 40.
Walk the classic example: seven days of 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, and 14 hours, 74 hours in one workweek. Each of the first six days is 8 straight-time hours plus 2 at time and a half. The seventh day is entirely premium, 8 hours at 1.5x and 6 at 2x. That leaves 48 straight-time hours in the pool, 8 of which sit past 40 and move to time and a half. Final split: 40 straight, 28 at 1.5x, 6 at 2x. The older "greater of daily or weekly" route lands in the same place (74 minus 40 is 34 premium hours, 6 of them double time on the seventh day, 28 at time and a half).
The reverse case trips people up just as often. Five 12-hour days is 60 hours, but it splits into 40 straight and 20 at time and a half, and the weekly test adds nothing on top. If your employer paid 20 daily overtime hours and then another 20 weekly overtime hours, they overpaid. If they paid a flat weekly 20 on a week of long days, go back and check the daily math: California owes the daily premium even in a week that never reaches 40 hours.
The seventh-consecutive-day rule and the workweek that decides it
A workday is any 24 consecutive hours starting at the same time each calendar day. A workweek is seven consecutive 24-hour periods, fixed and recurring, designated by the employer. It can start on any day, but it cannot be moved around to avoid overtime.
The seventh-day premium attaches to the seventh consecutive day of work in one workweek. On that day the straight-time band disappears: the first 8 hours are 1.5x and every hour past 8 is 2x. A 5-hour seventh day is 5 hours at time and a half. A 14-hour seventh day is 8 at 1.5x and 6 at 2x, not 8 at 1.5x plus 4 at 1.5x plus 2 at 2x.
Where the workweek starts decides the whole thing. Work Monday through Sunday under a Sunday-start workweek and you have six days in one week and one day in the next, so no seventh-day premium. Work those same seven calendar days under a Monday-start workweek and the premium applies in full. Hence the workweek selector at the top of this tool. One thing not to confuse it with: Labor Code 551 and 552 give most employees one day of rest in seven, but that is a scheduling obligation, not a pay premium, and it leaves the overtime math alone.
Who this calculator does not cover
This tool prices gross pay for a non-exempt hourly employee on a standard schedule. Alternative workweek schedules and regular-rate adjustments follow their own rules, so treat the alternative workweek and bonus options here as estimates and check your own wage order before relying on them. Out of scope entirely:
- Exempt employees. Executive, administrative, and professional exemptions need a duties test and a salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, which for 2026 is $70,304 a year or $5,858.67 a month at the $16.90 minimum wage. Salaried nonexempt employees, on the other hand, do earn overtime.
- Multiple pay rates in one week. The regular rate becomes a weighted average across those rates. The shift differential pay calculator handles that case.
- Industry-specific thresholds. Agricultural workers, healthcare alternative workweeks under Wage Orders 4 and 5, camp counselors, ski employees, ambulance drivers on 24-hour shifts, and personal attendants have their own rules. Check the DIR exceptions page.
- Collective bargaining agreements. Labor Code 514 exempts qualifying CBA-covered employees from section 510 entirely.
- Paid leave. Vacation, holiday, sick, PTO, and meal or rest break premium hours are not hours worked and should not be entered above.
Working outside California? The federal weekly-only version lives in the overtime pay calculator. Still holding raw clock punches instead of daily hours? Start at the timesheet hours calculator and come back. This page stops at gross, so take the number over to the hourly paycheck take-home calculator for federal, Social Security, Medicare, and California withholding. For a whole crew rather than one person, the WorkLogs44 app runs multi-employee payroll with employer SUTA and FUTA on top. Treat these figures as an estimate for planning, not legal advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about california overtime calculator
When does double time start in California?
Double time is twice your regular rate. It kicks in after 12 hours in one workday, and after 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of a workweek. Under Labor Code 510, those are the only two triggers. A weekend shift does not create it on its own. Neither does a night shift, and neither does a holiday: California has no state law requiring premium pay for holidays.
Do daily and weekly overtime stack in California?
No, and the rule against it has a name: pyramiding. An hour already paid as daily overtime or daily double time is out of the pool, so only your straight-time hours get tested against 40. Five 12-hour days is 60 hours on the clock, but it splits into 40 straight-time hours and 20 daily overtime hours, which leaves the weekly test nothing to catch. You get 20 hours at 1.5x, not 20 plus another 20.
What is the seventh-consecutive-day overtime rule?
Work all seven days of one workweek and the seventh day is paid entirely at premium rates: the first 8 hours at 1.5x, every hour past 8 at 2x. No straight-time portion at all. The catch is the phrase "one workweek," meaning your employer's fixed and recurring seven-day period. Seven days in a row that straddle two workweeks, say Thursday through the following Wednesday, do not trigger it.
Is overtime in California after 8 hours or after 40 hours?
Both, whichever gives you more. California stacks a daily 8-hour rule on top of the federal weekly 40-hour rule. Work 30 hours in a week and you can still be owed overtime, if one of those days ran past 8. Work five 8-hour days plus a short sixth day and you can be owed overtime too, because the week crossed 40. For the federal-only version of this math, see the overtime pay calculator.
Can I work four 10-hour days without overtime in California?
Only if your employer has a validly adopted alternative workweek schedule, and the bar for that is high: a written proposal, a 14-day notice, an informational meeting, a secret-ballot election won by two-thirds of the affected work unit, and results filed with the DLSE within 30 days (Labor Code 511). Miss any of it and hours 9 and 10 of each day are ordinary daily overtime. Even a valid 4/10 schedule still pays 1.5x past 10 hours in a day, 2x past 12, and 1.5x on straight-time hours past 40 in the week.
Do salaried employees get overtime in California?
Salaried nonexempt employees do. Getting paid a salary does not take your overtime rights away. Exempt status takes two things at once: a duties test, meaning more than half your time on genuine executive, administrative, or professional work, and a salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, which for 2026 works out to $70,304 a year or $5,858.67 a month at the $16.90 minimum wage. For a salaried nonexempt worker, the regular rate is the annual salary divided by 52, then divided by 40.
Does California overtime qualify for the federal "no tax on overtime" deduction?
Often only partly, which surprises people. The federal deduction under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act covers qualified overtime compensation, meaning the premium portion of overtime required by section 7 of the FLSA (hours over 40 in a workweek). Overtime you got purely from California's daily 8-hour or 12-hour rules, in a week where you stayed at or under 40 total hours, was never FLSA-required, so it does not qualify. The deduction caps at $12,500 (single) or $25,000 (married filing jointly) and phases out above $150,000 or $300,000 of MAGI, for tax years 2025 through 2028. Either way, the wages still owe Social Security and Medicare, and California still taxes them.
Does a bonus change my California overtime rate?
Yes, if it is nondiscretionary: an attendance bonus, a production bonus, a shift differential, a commission, anything promised in advance. California's treatment of a flat-sum bonus (Alvarado v. Dart Container, 2018) is stricter than the federal one. You divide the bonus by the non-overtime hours actually worked rather than by all hours, then multiply by 1.5 instead of 0.5 for overtime hours. A real discretionary gift, decided on after the fact, stays out of the regular rate. If you worked multiple pay rates in one week, use the shift differential pay calculator.