Legal Question in Business Law in California

CA Overtime Pay: Daily, Weekly, or Both?

According to:

dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_overtime.htm

''In California, ... employee[s]... shall not be employed more than eight hours in any workday or more than 40 hours in any workweek unless he or she receives one and one-half times his or her regular rate of pay for all hours worked over eight hours in any workday and over 40 hours in the workweek.''

If an employee works: Mon=8hrs, T=9, W=8, TH=9, F=8, for a total of 42 hours, what does the employer pay? 40 regular and 2 overtime? Or 40 regular, 2 daily overtime, and 2 weekly overtime?

It seems like the answer is clearly the first option, but then I don't understand why the law uses the word ''and'' as opposed to ''or''.

Can anyone please explain?


Asked on 6/16/08, 6:18 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Michael Stone Law Offices of Michael B. Stone Toll Free 1-855-USE-MIKE

Re: CA Overtime Pay: Daily, Weekly, or Both?

There's no distinction between "daily overtime" and "weekly overtime." In your example the employee would be entitled to 2 hours of overtime, both because the employee worked more than 8 hours in a day, and also because the employee worked more than 40 hours a week. To give another example, an employee could work 8 hours a day for 6 days and become entitled to 8 hours overtime. An employee could also work 9 hours a day for 4 days and be eligible for 4 hours of overtime.

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Answered on 6/16/08, 11:14 am
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: CA Overtime Pay: Daily, Weekly, or Both?

The text you're citing, although you may have quoted it accurately from an official Web site, is not a complete and accurate statement of the actual statute, Labor Code section 510. LC 510 includes this sentence: "Nothing in this section requires an employer to combine more than one rate of overtime compensation in order to calculate the amount to be paid to an employee for any hour of overtime work."

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Answered on 6/16/08, 12:55 pm


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