California overtime calculator
Enter the week below and the split is worked out under California rules rather than the federal default.
Over 8 hours a day at 1.5×, over 12 at 2×, plus the seventh consecutive day rule.
California's two overtime rules run at once
A workday is any fixed 24-hour period the employer sets — it does not have to start at midnight, only stay consistent once chosen. Work past 8 hours in that period and the extra time is paid at 1.5×; work past 12 hours in the same workday and the time past 12 is paid at 2×.
A workweek is separate: any fixed, recurring seven-day stretch of 168 hours, and it does not have to start on Monday. Work past 40 hours in that stretch is also paid at 1.5×, regardless of how the days split. An hour is counted once — the calculator above applies the daily rule first and only counts what is left toward the 40-hour weekly threshold, so an hour already paid as daily overtime is not paid again as weekly overtime.
The seventh consecutive day
Work all seven days of one workweek and the seventh day carries its own premium, independent of how long the other six ran. The first 8 hours worked on that seventh consecutive day are paid at 1.5×, and anything past 8 hours on it is paid at 2× — even if none of the other six days was long enough to trigger the ordinary daily rule on its own.
The count resets with any day off. Six days worked, a day off, then six more days worked contains no seventh consecutive day, however many days were worked across the two runs — the rule counts an unbroken run inside one workweek, not a total. Enter seven worked rows in a row above and the calculator applies this automatically.
What actually counts as the regular rate of pay
“Time and a half” means 1.5× the regular rate of pay, and the regular rate is not always the number on the offer letter. Anyone paid more than one hourly rate in a week, or paid a bonus or commission on top of an hourly wage, has a regular rate that has to be recalculated for that week before overtime can be worked out.
A salaried non-exempt employee’s regular rate is worked out backward: multiply the monthly salary by 12, divide by 52 to get the weekly figure, then divide by 40. Someone paid two different hourly rates in the same week has theirs averaged, weighted by hours — 30 hours at $18 an hour and 12 hours at $15 an hour is $720 in straight-time pay for 42 hours worked, a $17.14 regular rate, and overtime for that week is paid at 1.5× $17.14, not at $18 or $15 outright.
Nondiscretionary bonuses and commissions — anything promised in advance for hitting a target, a quota, or simply showing up for a shift — are folded into the regular rate the same way. A genuinely discretionary bonus, one with no prior promise attached, is not.
California treats a flat-sum bonus differently from one tied to production. A production bonus is divided by the hours actually worked in the period it covers. A flat-sum bonus — a fixed amount for the week no matter how many hours were worked, such as a $100 attendance bonus — is divided instead by the legal maximum regular hours for that period, 40 for a single workweek, which adds more to the regular rate than dividing by the hours actually worked would.
Two worked examples
Someone earning $20 an hour works an 8 AM to 9 PM shift with an unpaid 30-minute lunch — 12.5 hours. The first 8 hours are regular pay: 8 × $20 = $160. The next 4 hours, from 8 up to 12, are at 1.5×: 4 × $30 = $120. The last half hour, past 12, is at 2×: 0.5 × $40 = $20. Total for the day: $300 for 12.5 hours worked.
The same $20-an-hour employee works 45 hours across a workweek — no single day over 8 hours, just 45 hours spread across the week — and also earns a flat $100 attendance bonus for that week. Spread over the 40 legal regular hours, the bonus adds $2.50 an hour ($100 ÷ 40), lifting the regular rate to $22.50. The 5 hours past 40 are then paid at 1.5× $22.50 = $33.75 an hour rather than 1.5× the $20 base rate — $18.75 more in overtime pay than a calculator that only knows the hourly wage would produce. The calculator above does not take a bonus as an input; a bonus week like this one has to be worked out by hand, the way it is here.
Who these rules don't cover
The main carve-out is the executive, administrative and professional exemption. It takes both a genuinely supervisory, administrative or professional role — a job title by itself does not qualify — and a salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work. California’s minimum wage is $16.90 an hour as of 1 January 2026, so the salary floor for this exemption moves every time the minimum wage does.
Outside salespeople who spend most of their working time away from the employer’s place of business, and certain computer software professionals paid on a qualifying salary or hourly basis, are exempt in their own right, alongside a shorter list of occupation-specific carve-outs. Whether a specific job actually meets one of these tests is a legal judgment, not an arithmetic one — it is outside what this page or its calculator can settle, and the state’s own Division of Labor Standards Enforcement is the source to check it against.
Overtime thresholds compared
| Rule | Daily 1.5× | Daily 2× | Weekly 1.5× |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal (FLSA) | — | — | 40h |
| California | 8h | 12h | 40h |
| Alaska | 8h | — | 40h |
| Nevada | 8h | — | 40h |
| Colorado | 12h | — | 40h |
Alternative workweek schedules, union agreements and exempt classifications change these thresholds and are outside what a general calculator can answer.
Common questions
Does California overtime start after 8 hours or 40?
Both, measured separately. Work past 8 hours in a workday is paid at 1.5×, work past 12 in the same workday is paid at 2×, and work past 40 hours in a workweek is also paid at 1.5×. The same hour is never counted toward both — an hour already paid as daily overtime is not paid again as weekly overtime.
What is California’s seventh-day rule?
Working all seven days of one workweek makes the seventh day a premium day on its own: the first 8 hours are at 1.5× and anything past 8 hours is at 2×, regardless of how long the other six days ran. A day off anywhere in the week resets the count.
Does a bonus change my overtime rate?
Yes, if it is nondiscretionary — promised in advance for a target, a quota or attendance. It raises the regular rate that overtime is calculated from for that week, and a flat weekly bonus is divided by 40 hours rather than by the hours actually worked, which raises the regular rate more than a production bonus of the same size would.
How do I know if I’m exempt from overtime in California?
It takes both a genuinely executive, administrative or professional role and a salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, or falling into a narrower carve-out such as outside sales or certain computer professional roles. A job title alone does not decide it — this is a legal determination specific to the job, not something a general calculator can settle.