California Overtime Calculator
California is the rare state that counts overtime by the day and the week — punch in your hours and the calculator applies whichever rule pays you more.
Calculate your California overtime pay
California Overtime Rules
California has the strongest overtime protections in the United States. Unlike federal FLSA, California imposes overtime on both a daily and weekly basis — and the rule that results in higher pay for the employee is the one that applies.
- 1.5× pay (time and a half) for hours worked beyond 8 in a single day or 40 in a workweek.
- 2× pay (double time) for hours worked beyond 12 in a single day.
- On the 7th consecutive workday: the first 8 hours are paid at 1.5×, and any additional hours at 2×.
A generic federal overtime calculator under-reports pay for California workers, because federal FLSA only counts weekly hours — a 10-hour day generates 2 hours of daily overtime that a federal calculator would miss. Example: working 45 hours in a week with one 11-hour day shows 5 OT hours under FLSA, but California also counts 3 hours of daily overtime from the long day; the calculation that pays more applies.
The California minimum wage is $16.50/hour (tipped minimum $16.50). Fast food workers: $20/hr. Cities often higher.. Overtime is calculated on your actual hourly rate, not the minimum. See the full 2026 minimum wage table or compare states side by side.
Frequently asked questions
After 8 hours in a single workday. Hours 8 through 12 are paid at 1.5×, and anything past 12 hours in a day is double time. That runs alongside the weekly rule — California pays you under whichever calculation comes out higher, and you are never paid twice for the same hour.
If you work all 7 days in one workweek, the first 8 hours on that seventh day are paid at 1.5× and anything beyond 8 hours that day is double time — even when your weekly total is modest. The federal FLSA has no equivalent.
The Labor Commissioner's Office — part of the California DIR, often called the DLSE. You can file a wage claim there for unpaid overtime. Most salaried workers are still owed overtime unless they clear California's own salary test, which is higher than the federal one: two times the state minimum wage for a full-time schedule.