Free tool · California §510

What does that schedule actually pay in California?

California overtime runs by the day — 1.5× after 8 hours, 2× after 12, special rates on the 7th consecutive day. Enter your crew's real schedule and see the lawful breakdown next to what federal weekly-only math would pay. The difference is what an out-of-state payroll system silently underpays, every week.

Updated Jul 21, 2026 Uniform-schedule estimate Software, not legal advice

Your schedule, both ways

Assumes a uniform schedule and a single hourly rate, with no adopted Alternative Workweek Schedule. Excludes the bonus effect on the regular rate — real numbers usually run higher.

32 · 8 · 0hours at 1× · 1.5× · 2×
$1,664California weekly pay / worker
$1,280federal-only math would pay
$384underpaid / worker / week
$399,360annual exposure across the crew if payroll runs federal-only math

§510: 1.5× after 8 hrs/day and past 40 straight-time hrs/week · 2× after 12 hrs/day · 7th consecutive day 1.5×/2× · no pyramiding — each hour at its highest single rate.

The short answer

California pays overtime on the day, not just the week. Under Labor Code §510, an employee earns 1.5× the regular rate for hours past 8 in a workday and 2× for hours past 12 in a workday — regardless of the weekly total. On the seventh consecutive day of a workweek, the first 8 hours are at 1.5× and everything beyond that is at 2×. Weekly overtime past 40 straight-time hours still applies on top, and hours are never counted twice: each hour is paid at its single highest applicable rate.

This is why a four-day, ten-hour schedule that costs nothing extra under federal law costs real money in California. Forty hours across four days is 40 hours federally — no overtime at all. In California it is eight overtime hours, two per day, because each day passed 8. The gap on a $32 rate is $128 per worker per week, or roughly $6,650 a year — before you multiply by the crew.

The number most people get wrong isn't the hours — it's the rate

Overtime is 1.5× the regular rate, and the regular rate is not the same thing as the hourly wage. It includes nondiscretionary compensation: production bonuses, attendance bonuses, shift differentials, piece-rate earnings, and non-hourly incentive pay. Only genuinely discretionary gifts stay out.

California then diverges from federal law on how to fold a bonus in. Under Alvarado v. Dart Container (2018), a flat-sum bonus — a fixed amount that doesn't grow with hours worked, like $100 for finishing the week — is divided by the non-overtime hours actually worked, not by total hours. Federal law (29 CFR §778.110) divides by total hours. Dividing by the larger federal denominator produces a smaller regular rate and therefore underpays the overtime.

Base wage$30/hr, 45 hours worked in the week$30.00 / hr
Flat-sum weekly bonus$100 for completing the week — does not scale with hours$100.00
Federal method$100 ÷ 45 total hours = $2.22 added to the regular rate$32.22 / hr
California method — Alvarado$100 ÷ 40 non-overtime hours = $2.50 added$32.50 / hr
Underpayment per overtime hour, using the federal method$0.42
Forty-two cents an hour is how wage-and-hour class actions start. It looks like a rounding difference and it is actually a systematic, repeating, provable underpayment across every bonused worker and every overtime hour — which is precisely the shape of claim that certifies as a class. Any payroll system configured to federal defaults produces this error silently. The calculator above uses a flat hourly rate, so it does not model bonuses; if your crew earns them, your real gap is wider than what's shown.

What this calculator deliberately leaves out

The comparison above is a floor, not a full payroll engine. It models a uniform schedule at a flat hourly rate and excludes:

  • Nondiscretionary bonuses and piece rates in the regular rate — as above, these push the real figure up.
  • Meal and rest premiums, which are separate obligations under §226.7 and stack on top. Price those separately →
  • Alternative workweek schedules, the one lawful route to a 4×10 without daily overtime — see below.
  • Compensable travel time under Morillion, which lengthens the workday and can push hours across the 8- and 12-hour thresholds.
  • Prevailing-wage and certified-payroll rates on public works, which set their own floors entirely.
Why the gap exists

Forty-nine states count the week. California counts the day.

Payroll platforms tuned for federal rules watch one number: 40 hours a week. California adds four more triggers — and they fire constantly on field crews:

ScheduleFederal OT owedCalifornia OT owed
4 days × 10 hours (40 total)0 hrs8 hrs at 1.5×
5 days × 9 hours (45 total)5 hrs at 1.5×5 hrs at 1.5× — same, by luck
3 days × 13 hours (39 total)0 hrs12 hrs at 1.5× + 3 hrs at 2×
7 days × 8 hours (56 total)16 hrs at 1.5×16 hrs at 1.5× incl. the whole 7th day

Every underpaid hour is a wage claim with a 3-year lookback, and unpaid wages arm the same penalty stack as break violations — waiting time, wage statements, PAGA. The rules behind each row are in the full overtime guide →

The one lawful way to run 4×10 in California

Row one of that table is the schedule contractors want most, and there is a legal route to it: an Alternative Workweek Schedule. It is not a policy you announce — it is a formal election with statutory procedure, and it fails if the procedure fails.

In outline: the employer proposes a specific schedule to a defined work unit, holds a disclosure meeting at least 14 days before the vote, conducts a secret ballot requiring a two-thirds majority of affected employees in that unit, and files the results with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within 30 days. Once adopted, the unit can work up to 10 hours a day without daily overtime — but overtime still applies beyond the adopted schedule, beyond 40 straight-time hours in the week, and past 12 hours in a day at double time.

Two traps do most of the damage. First, an AWS belongs to a work unit, not to individuals — moving a worker between units, or hiring into one, requires care about which schedule they are actually under. Second, an improperly adopted AWS is not a partial defense; it is simply void, which means every hour past 8 across the entire period it was in effect becomes retroactively owed at overtime rates. Adopting one without counsel is a genuinely bad idea.

Primary sources
  1. Labor Code §510 — daily overtime, double time, seventh consecutive day
  2. Labor Code §511 — alternative workweek schedules
  3. California DIR / DLSE — overtime FAQ
  4. Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel (2021) — regular rate of compensation
  5. 29 CFR §778.110 — the federal regular-rate method, for contrast with Alvarado
Method

How the math works.

How is California overtime calculated?

Per day: beyond 8 hours at 1.5×, beyond 12 at 2×. Per week: straight-time hours beyond 40 at 1.5×, and the 7th consecutive day at 1.5× (first 8) / 2× (after). Each hour is paid at the highest single rate it qualifies for — no pyramiding.

What is the "federal-math gap"?

FLSA only triggers past 40 hours/week. California adds the daily, double-time, and 7th-day triggers — so weekly-only payroll math underpays every long day. Four 10-hour days: zero federal OT, eight hours of California OT.

What does the calculator assume?

Uniform daily hours, one hourly rate, no adopted Alternative Workweek Schedule, and no bonus effect on the regular rate — which means real exposure usually runs higher (Alvarado v. Dart Container).

Is this legal advice?

No — it's a planning estimate from a software company. Real payroll needs per-day, per-worker math on the regular rate; for actual exposure, talk to employment counsel.

CDO runs this math on every punch, live.

Daily, weekly, 7th-day, double time, bonus true-ups — computed as the day happens and pre-filled into payroll, with the record already written.

Request a demo — 20 min Read the overtime guide