California Overtime Calculator - Daily Pay Rules

A California overtime calculator estimates gross wages for a nonexempt hourly worker under California's daily overtime, weekly overtime, double-time, and seventh-day rules. Use it to check a timesheet before payroll closes, compare a proposed extra shift, or understand why a California paycheck differs from a federal-only overtime estimate. It is an informational wage estimate, not a legal determination of every workplace exception.

• • Timesheet review: Enter each workday to see whether the hours stay regular, move to 1.5x overtime, or become double time.
• • Extra-shift decision: Compare the gross pay effect of adding a long shift, a sixth day, or a seventh consecutive day before accepting the schedule.
• • Payroll check: Use the hour split to compare against a pay stub line for regular wages, overtime wages, and double-time wages.
• • Manager planning: Estimate labor cost before assigning overtime-heavy shifts.

California is different from many states because daily hours matter. A worker can earn overtime even when weekly hours do not exceed 40 if one workday runs beyond eight hours. A long day can also create double-time pay after 12 hours. That is why this page asks for each day instead of asking only for total weekly hours.

The output separates hours from dollars so you can audit the classification before using the pay estimate. If the result differs from payroll, check for an alternative workweek schedule, different regular-rate calculation, union agreement, local wage rule, or exemption analysis.

When you need a broader overtime setup outside California's daily rules, Overtime Calculator handles general weekly overtime assumptions.

The calculator classifies each day first, then applies the weekly rule only to hours that are still straight-time hours.

• Regular hourly rate: The hourly rate used for straight-time pay before overtime multipliers.
• Daily hours: Hours actually worked in each workday, not paid leave or unpaid meal periods.
• 1.5x overtime hours: Hours over eight through 12 in a normal workday, eligible weekly overtime hours, and the first eight hours on a qualifying seventh consecutive day.
• Double-time hours: Hours over 12 in a normal workday and hours over eight on a qualifying seventh consecutive day.

The weekly step matters when several days stay at or below eight hours but the total straight-time hours pass 40. For example, six 8-hour days produce 48 straight-time hours before the weekly step, so eight hours move into the 1.5x overtime bucket. If the seventh-day option is selected, day 7 is handled before the weekly step.

This implementation avoids paying two overtime premiums on the same hour. Daily overtime and double-time hours are already premium hours, so weekly overtime is drawn from the remaining regular-hour pool.

According to California Department of Industrial Relations, nonexempt California overtime generally applies after eight hours in a workday, after 40 hours in a workweek, and on the seventh consecutive day, with double time after 12 daily hours or after eight hours on the seventh day.

If your payroll already separates regular and overtime hours, Overtime Paycheck Calculator is useful for a simpler gross-pay paycheck check.

These concepts explain why a California overtime result can change even when total weekly hours stay the same.

The calculator uses the hourly rate you enter as the regular rate. That is suitable for a plain hourly worker with no extra includable compensation. It is less suitable for a worker with production bonuses, flat-sum bonuses, commissions, piece rates, multiple rates, or shift differentials.

If a result is being used for a wage claim, payroll correction, or employer policy review, keep the timesheets and pay stubs beside the calculation. The math can identify a likely gap, but classification and regular-rate facts still need review.

For a quick look at only the 1.5x multiplier, Time and a Half Calculator focuses on time-and-a-half pay without California double-time rules.

Use this California overtime calculator for one employer-defined workweek at a time. Do not average two workweeks together.

1. 1 Enter the regular hourly rate: Use the rate that should be multiplied for overtime. If the worker has bonuses or multiple rates, treat the output as a simplified estimate.
2. 2 Enter each day's worked hours: Use actual worked hours only. Paid sick time, vacation, and holidays generally do not count as hours worked for overtime.
3. 3 Set the day 7 option: Choose yes only if day 7 is the seventh consecutive day worked in the same workweek.
4. 4 Review the hour split: Check regular hours, 1.5x overtime hours, and double-time hours before relying on the gross pay total.
5. 5 Compare against payroll: Match the calculator's hour buckets to pay stub lines and investigate any difference before assuming an underpayment.

Suppose a worker earns $30 per hour and works 13 hours on Monday, 8 hours Tuesday through Friday, and no weekend hours. The calculator classifies Monday as 8 regular hours, 4 overtime hours, and 1 double-time hour. The remaining four 8-hour days add 32 regular hours, so gross pay is $1,680.

After checking one California workweek, Hourly to Salary With Overtime Calculator can translate repeated hourly and overtime patterns into an annual gross-pay view.

A daily-hour calculator helps with practical payroll questions that a weekly-only estimate misses.

• • Audit California pay stubs: The separate regular, overtime, and double-time outputs make it easier to compare calculator math with wage statement lines.
• • Plan labor cost: Managers can see the cost of a 10-hour, 12-hour, or 13-hour shift before approving overtime.
• • Compare schedule choices: Employees can compare a longer day against an added sixth or seventh day using the same hourly rate.
• • Catch threshold problems: The minimum-wage shortfall output flags an entered rate below the 2026 statewide minimum wage baseline.
• • Document assumptions: The daily inputs create a clear record of which hours were treated as regular, overtime, or double time.

The result is most useful when it is tied to one specific workweek. Save the hour entries you used, because payroll disputes often turn on the workday definition, workweek start time, unpaid breaks, and special schedules.

For annual planning, convert recurring weekly gross pay only after you are comfortable with the week-level classification. Repeating one unusually long week across a year can overstate ordinary earnings.

When the starting point is an annual salary instead of an hourly rate, Salary With Overtime Calculator gives a better comparison for mixed salary and overtime scenarios.

Several facts can change the correct overtime result even when the daily hour entries are accurate.

• • This calculator does not decide whether a worker is exempt, misclassified, covered by a collective bargaining agreement, or subject to an industry wage order exception.
• • It does not calculate taxes, deductions, meal-period premiums, reporting-time pay, split-shift premiums, waiting-time penalties, or wage claim damages.
• • It uses the entered hourly rate as the regular rate, so regular-rate adjustments for bonuses, commissions, or multiple rates need separate payroll analysis.

For federal context, the FLSA uses a fixed 168-hour workweek and generally requires overtime after 40 hours for covered nonexempt employees. California's general rule is more detailed because it also looks at daily hours and seventh consecutive days.

Use the minimum-wage shortfall as a prompt for review, not a complete compliance answer. Some local ordinances, industry-specific rates, and exempt salary tests can be higher than the statewide number.

According to U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, the FLSA generally requires covered nonexempt employees to receive at least time and one-half after 40 hours in a fixed 168-hour workweek.

According to California Department of Industrial Relations minimum wage notice, California's statewide minimum wage increased to $16.90 per hour on January 1, 2026, and the initial exempt salary threshold became $70,304 per year.

For a non-overtime annualized baseline from a regular hourly rate, Hourly to Annual Salary Calculator keeps the schedule assumption separate from California premium pay.