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California Overtime Calculator

One 14-hour day and four 8-hour days at $25 an hour: California pays $1,250.00 gross, the federal rule $1,225.00. California pays 1.5 times your regular rate after 8 hours in a workday or 40 in a workweek, and double after 12 hours in a day, so the last 2 hours of that long day are double time. The $25.00 difference is those 2 hours alone: 2 × $25 × (2 − 1.5). The federal rule has no daily overtime and no double time, so it pays them at 1.5 times as part of the 6 hours over 40. This page shows gross pay before taxes and deductions, not take-home pay, and the dates California law sets for paying it.

The California rules this calculator uses

Labor Code 510(a): "Any work in excess of eight hours in one workday and any work in excess of 40 hours in any one workweek and the first eight hours worked on the seventh day of work in any one workweek shall be compensated at the rate of no less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay." Double time is for "any work in excess of 12 hours in one day" and "any work in excess of eight hours on any seventh day of a workweek."

The Department of Industrial Relations puts the seventh day as "the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek," so working six days and resting one does not trigger it. Section 510 also says nothing requires an employer "to combine more than one rate of overtime compensation" for any hour. This calculator pays each hour once, at the highest rate that applies, and does not count an hour already paid as daily overtime toward the 40 again; ask your payroll office if yours counts differently.

At $25 an hour, in gross pay for one week:

For two rates in one week, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement says California "mirrors the federal method, based upon the weighted average of all hourly rates paid" (DLSE Manual 49.2.5): add the week's pay at each rate and divide by all hours worked. The overtime pay page has the federal rule on its own.

When California overtime must be paid

Labor Code 204(b)(1): "all wages earned for labor in excess of the normal work period shall be paid no later than the payday for the next regular payroll period." Regular wages have their own deadlines. On a semi-monthly paycheck, Labor Code 204(a) says work "between the 1st and 15th days" is paid "between the 16th and the 26th day of the month," and work "between the 16th and the last day" is paid "between the 1st and 10th day of the following month."

When the last allowed day is a Saturday or Sunday, the DLSE, which enforces these rules, allows the employer "the option of paying wages due on a Saturday or Sunday (or holiday listed in the Government Code and scheduled as a holiday by the employer) on the next business day" (DLSE Manual 7.6.2, April 2008). That is the Labor Commissioner's enforcement manual, not a statute: it is how the DLSE handles a weekend deadline, and the Labor Code itself does not say this. So if your employer uses the latest dates the law allows, these are the 2027 dates:

The last column is the next period's "Paid by" date, with the weekend move where there is one. Your employer's real payday can be earlier. Six of the 24 dates land on a weekend. Apart from Sundays, none of the whole-day holidays this page dates falls on a 10th or 26th in 2027. Four state holidays follow lunar calendars and are not dated here: Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr, Diwali and Eid al-Adha. If your employer closes for one and it falls on your deadline, the same next-business-day rule applies. Good Friday, March 26, is a state holiday only from noon to 3 p.m. The DLSE's 2008 list includes the day after Thanksgiving, which is November 26, 2027, but the current Government Code 6700 does not name that day.

Weekly and bi-weekly pay: seven days after the period closes

Labor Code 204(d): the rules are met "for weekly, biweekly, or semimonthly payroll if the wages are paid not more than seven calendar days following the close of the payroll period." Seven days after a period ends falls on the same weekday, so the day your period closes sets your latest payday on a weekly paycheck or bi-weekly paycheck:

For a period closing on a Friday, three 2027 deadlines are Government Code holidays: January 1 (New Year's Day), February 12 (Lincoln Day) and September 24 (Native American Day). If your employer closes for the holiday, payment may move to January 4, February 16 and September 27. February 15 is Washington's Birthday, so February 12 moves past it. For a Thursday close, the 2027 holiday deadlines are September 9, November 11 and November 25. For a Saturday close, deadlines on January 16, February 13, May 29, July 3, September 4 and October 9 move past a Monday holiday to Tuesday if your employer closes for it.

Leaving a job: when the last check is due

Quit without notice at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 8, 2027, and 72 hours later is 5:00 p.m. on Monday, January 11. Section 202 counts hours and does not mention weekends. Some jobs have other rules: seasonal layoffs in curing, canning or drying perishable fruit, fish or vegetables may be paid within 72 hours (Labor Code 201(a)), and the Department of Industrial Relations lists others, such as oil drilling and motion picture production. If you quit without notice, you can ask for the check by mail, and then "the date of the mailing shall constitute the date of payment."

If an employer willfully pays the final wages late, Labor Code 203 says "the wages of the employee shall continue as a penalty from the due date thereof at the same rate," but "the wages shall not continue for more than 30 days." It runs "until paid or until an action therefor is commenced," so it stops when you are paid or when a lawsuit is filed. That is your own daily wage, times each day late, up to 30:

Questions

Is California overtime daily or weekly?

Both. Hours over 8 in a day and over 40 in a week are overtime, counted so the same hour is not paid twice. Five 10-hour days is 10 overtime hours either way; four 12-hour days is 16 in California and 8 under federal law.

When do I get double time in California?

For hours over 12 in one workday, and hours over 8 on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek.

Does this apply to an alternative workweek schedule?

No. Labor Code 510(a) says its requirements "do not apply" to an alternative workweek schedule adopted under Section 511 and the other listed sections. This calculator uses the standard rules.

Which California holidays does this page use?

The whole-day holidays in Government Code 6700 with a set date, plus Sundays, and Section 6701's move of a Sunday holiday to Monday. For 2027 that adds July 5 for July 4. AB 2017, signed September 27, 2026 (Chapter 571), adds "Eid al-Fitr," the first day of Shawwal, and "Eid al-Adha," the 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, to the 6700 list from January 1, 2027. They, Lunar New Year and Diwali follow lunar calendars, and the statute gives no calendar date, so this page does not date them. March 31 is "Farmworkers Day" (AB 2156, 2026). The site's other pages use the Federal Reserve holiday list, which is a different list.

Last updated November 9, 2026 (America/Chicago). Sources: California Labor Code 201, 202, 203, 204 and 510, Government Code 6700 and 6701, the California Department of Industrial Relations overtime and payday FAQs, and the DLSE Enforcement Policies and Interpretations Manual. This is general information, not legal advice.