Among the many wage and hour laws that are in place here in California are overtime laws. Under California law, there are several circumstances under which employers are, generally, required to pay their employees at an overtime rate. One of these circumstances is if they have an employee work in excess of eight hours in a workday. As a note, there are some employees that this overtime pay requirement does not apply to.
Under California law, when a worker that this requirement does apply to works more than eight hours in a workday, their employer generally is required to pay them at an overtime rate of at least one-and-a-half times their regular pay rate for the time worked past eight hours.
As a note though, the minimum overtime pay rate rises even higher when a worker works more than 12 hours in a workday. In this situation, while the minimum overtime pay rate for the time the worker worked between the eight-hour mark and the 12-hour mark remains one-and-a-half times the regular pay rate, the minimum overtime pay rate for the time worked past the 12-hour mark goes up to twice the regular pay rate.
It can be deeply impactful on workers when employers here in California fail to comply with the state’s overtime pay rules. Thus, it can be important for an employee to understand whether their job is one where the state’s overtime rules apply, what overtime pay state law entitles them to in different situations and what steps they can take when their employer violates overtime rules in regards to their pay.
Employment law attorneys can help answer overtime-related questions workers who are unclear on their overtime rights or who suspect that their employer may have committed overtime violations against them have.
Source: California Department of Industrial Relations, “Overtime,” Accessed May 7, 2015