If you work overtime hours in California, you deserve a higher pay rate for those additional hours. In fact, this is often why people are excited to work overtime. It is not that someone wants to put in extra hours at work, but they get a significant pay boost, which can be very helpful, especially if someone is living paycheck to paycheck.
That said, states do have different overtime laws, so these are not uniform across the entire country. When do you deserve overtime pay if you are an employee in California?
Time and a half
First and foremost, overtime pay is often time and a half. This applies anytime that you work more than eight hours in a day, but less than 12 hours. You do not necessarily have to exceed 40 hours for the week. Working nine hours on Monday would still count as eight hours at your standard rate and one hour at time and a half. If you have to work seven consecutive days in a row, you should also get this rate for the first eight hours of that seventh day.
Double time
One way that California stands apart, though, is that you may also deserve double pay for certain hours. If you work more than 12 hours during one day, those additional hours should be paid at twice your standard rate. For instance, working 13 hours would mean working eight hours at your normal rate, four more hours at time and a half, and then a final hour at double time.
Do you believe that you are not being paid properly for the overtime hours you have put in? It is important to know what legal steps you can take as an employee in California.