Most California employees are entitled to overtime pay. Commonly, these hours are paid once the shift or the hours accumulated by an employee in the same day exceed eight hours a day, more than six consecutive days in a week or more than 40 hours in the same week. Overtime pay becomes double the worker’s regular pay when the worker works more than twelve hours in a single workday or more than eight hours on the seventh consecutive day of a workweek.
As to whether your employer is required to pay overtime in California, that is a very fact-dependent question. It is important for you to understand that if you work for a private company, as most people do, you are entitled to be properly compensated for your overtime and that there are exceptions that can be identified.
In California, there are categories of workers who are not entitled to overtime compensation. We review the details of these exemptions below. Workers should familiarize themselves with these exemptions to ensure their employers are not illegally denying overtime pay.
Some examples of professions that are often considered exempt in California are
- Administrative assistants
- Executives
- IT professionals
- Doctors
- Surgeons
Furthermore, independent contractors are not considered employees under the law, but rather constitute a distinct class of workers. A worker is hired as independent if he is going to perform a specific service, for a specific result, for a specific payment. The independent contractor must have control over how that service is completed.