Do California workers have a right to overtime pay?

On Behalf of | Nov 20, 2014 | Employee Rights

California workers often go into a job knowing that they will have to work a lot. The standard work week in the United States includes eight hours a day for five days, or 40 hours a week. For many workers, however, it is not unusual for them to work well over 40 hours a week. While California law does not prohibit these extra hours, it does reward workers for the time they work over 40 hours a week. This reward is overtime pay.

According to the California Department of Industrial Relations, employees aged 18-years-old and older must earn at least one-and-a-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for overtime hours. The rules define a work day as eight hours, therefore, employers are required to pay workers time and a half for extra hours worked — up to 12 hours. If a worker had worked 12 or more consecutive hours, then California employment law says that the worker must receive double the employee’s regular rate of pay. An employee must also receive double pay if the person has worked more than eight hours for seven or more days in a row.

Additionally, employees must receive overtime pay if the employee has worked for more than 40 total hours in a work week. The extra hours are paid at time and a half.

While these rules may seem straightforward, there are exceptions and exemptions. In these cases, employers may not be required to pay overtime and employees may not be entitled to it.

Therefore, this blog post cannot answer specific legal questions in a person’s case but can only provide general information. An attorney, on the other hand, can help to explain whether a person is entitled to overtime in a particular situation. If the person is entitled to overtime and hasn’t received it, then legal action may be appropriate.

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