# California Overtime Law Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-overtime-law-question/261758>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 27, 2004, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-overtime-law-question/261758 "2004-08-27T06:46:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![scotcho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@scotcho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotcho)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-overtime-law-question/261758/1 "2004-08-27T06:46:45Z")

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This summer I’m working at a local pizza place to make some cash before heading back to college. I need the money, so I work as much as they schedule me. However, tonight I worked my 8th shift straight. I don’t really mind that much but a co-worker of mine mentioned that he thought I should be getting overtime for that. Now this co-worker has a reputation for being a pathological liar, so I took what he said with a grain of salt. However, curiosity got the best of me; I decided to see what I could find out.

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Searching google for “California overtime law” I found many web pages that all said basically the same thing. They tended to say that you were entitled to time and a half for the first 8 hours worked on the 7th consecutive day in a work week.

I’m kind of confused about the whole “work week” idea. Our timecards go from Thursday to Wednesday, and I worked every day on the timecard. However, the schedule goes from Monday to Sunday. Bottom line I guess is “what is my work week?” Does anyone know how “work week” is defined in California? Also, am I entitled to overtime for that 7th shift?

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Scotcho

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-overtime-law-question/261758/2 "2004-08-27T06:52:22Z")

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This is what I found:

> [@](#):
>
> In California, any employee older than 17 years of age, as well as any 16- or 17-year-old employee who is not legally required to attend school, must generally be paid one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek. For workers in all occupations except the manufacturing industry; mercantile industry; professional, technical, clerical, and similar occupations; public housekeeping industry, and transportation industry, employees must be paid one and one-half times their regular rate for work exceeding eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, and double time is required for hours in excess of 12 on any workday or in excess of eight on the seventh day. No employee may be required to report for work unless 10 hours have elapsed since the termination of the previous day’s employment.

From [here](http://www.toolkit.cch.com/pops/P98_05_4053_CA.asp).