Under California overtime law, employers are required to pay non-exempt employees overtime for work over the maximum number of hours per day or per week.

Non-exempt employees who do not have an alternative workweek schedule are entitled to overtime pay if they work:

more than eight (8) hours in a single workday;

more than forty (40) hours in a single workweek; or

more than six (6) days in a single workweek.6

Employees are entitled to minimum overtime pay at one and one-half (1 ½) times their regular hourly rate of pay.

In addition, work in excess of twelve (12) hours in a single workday, or in excess of eight (8) hours on the seventh day of a workweek is paid at double the regular hourly rate of pay.

Even if the employer does not require overtime work, employers may owe employees overtime pay as long as the employer permitted the employee to perform the extra work.

If your employer has violated California wage and hour laws, you may be able to recover the unpaid overtime pay through bringing a labor board complaint or filing a lawsuit against your employer.

Lawsuits against employers for California overtime violations may include:

• Failure to pay overtime compensation for work over 8 hours in a day
• Failure to pay overtime compensation for work over 40 hours in a week
• Failure to pay overtime compensation for working more than 6 days in a row
• Requiring an employee to work off the clock
• Requiring an employee to work during an unpaid lunch break
• Misclassifying employees as “exempt employees”
• Misclassifying employees as “independent contractors”

Many employees think it is not worth filing a lawsuit if they are only owed a few hundred dollars. However, in overtime pay lawsuits, the employee is eligible to recover his or her unpaid overtime compensation, in addition to interest and attorney’s fees.

In most cases, the statute of limitations for California wage and hour lawsuits is three (3) years from the date of the most recent violation.