California overtime rules for trades (2026)
If you run a trades business in California, federal FLSA isn't your problem — the California Labor Code is. Daily OT, weekly OT, double-time, and the 7th-day rule are all enforceable, and the penalties are real.
California protects hourly workers more aggressively than any other state. If you run a 5–25 person trades business in CA, federal Fair Labor Standards Act rules are the floor. California Labor Code sits on top. Get the math wrong and the back wages plus penalties stack quickly.
The four overtime triggers
In California, an hourly employee earns time-and-a-half (1.5×) OR double-time (2×) when any of these are true:
- Worked more than 8 hours in a day: 1.5× starts at hour 9
- Worked more than 40 hours in a week: 1.5× for hours past 40
- Worked more than 12 hours in a day: 2× starts at hour 13
- Worked the 7th consecutive day in a workweek: 1.5× for first 8 hours, 2× after that
Worked examples
Example 1: long day
Carlos works 10 hours on Monday: a single shift, no other work that week.
- Hours 1–8: regular pay
- Hours 9–10: 1.5× (daily OT)
Example 2: very long day
Carlos works 14 hours on Saturday.
- Hours 1–8: regular pay
- Hours 9–12: 1.5×
- Hours 13–14: 2× (daily double-time)
Example 3: long week
Carlos works 5 days of 9 hours each = 45 total hours, no day over 12.
- Daily OT: 1 hour × 5 days = 5 hours at 1.5×
- Weekly OT: 45 total minus 5 already-counted-as-OT = 40 regular-hour equivalents, so weekly OT triggers but the hours are already counted as daily OT. No double counting.
Example 4: 7th consecutive day
Carlos works Monday through Sunday, 7 consecutive days in one workweek, 8 hours each day.
- Mon–Sat: regular pay for hours 1–8 each day (48 hours regular)
- Sun (7th day): 1.5× for first 8 hours, 2× if he goes past 8 on that day
What's a "workweek"?
A workweek is a fixed, 7-day period you designate. Most trades use Monday-to-Sunday or Sunday-to-Saturday. Pick one and document it in writing. Once set, it can't shift around to avoid OT.
Meal and rest periods
Separate from OT but worth noting because the penalty is steep:
- Meal period: 30-minute unpaid break for any shift over 5 hours. Must start before the 6th hour.
- Rest period: 10-minute paid break for every 4 hours worked (or major fraction). Must be in the middle of each 4-hour block.
- Penalty for missing one: 1 hour of premium pay (at regular rate) per day, per missed meal or rest period. A skipped lunch can cost you 1 hour of wages.
Final pay rules (and the waiting-time penalty)
When an employee quits or is fired:
- Fired: all wages including accrued vacation due immediately on the last day.
- Quit (with 72+ hour notice): wages due on the last day.
- Quit (no notice): wages due within 72 hours.
Waiting-time penalty: if you're late, the employee gets their daily wage for every day late, up to 30 days. Owe Carlos $400/day? Pay him 10 days late = $4,000 penalty on top of what you owed.
What this means for your time-tracking
In California, you can't reconstruct hours from memory and stay compliant. You need:
- Time-stamped clock-in/clock-out for every shift (not rounded to the nearest 15 minutes; California auditors will reject that)
- Meal-period start/end captured
- Daily totals + weekly totals + double-time totals computed correctly
- Records kept for 4 years (CA Labor Code §1174)
Where Clox handles this
Clox calculates daily/weekly OT, double-time, and 7th-day rules automatically when you configure your overtime rules in Settings. Set the daily OT threshold to 8, weekly to 40, daily-DT to 12, and enable 7th-day. Every export is California-rule-compliant out of the box.