California has one of the most employee friendly overtime pay requirements. Overtime pay is additional compensation for working additional hours in a workday or workweek and is required by law. Employees, who are non-exempt, paid hourly and some who are paid on a salary are entitled to overtime compensation of one and a half times or two times their regular rate of pay based on the number of hours they worked. Even if you are classified as exempt and not entitled to overtime, you should still speak with us to determine whether you were correctly classified. Improper classification is a prevalent problem and would entitle you to the same overtime requirements as discussed below.
When determining an employee's regular rate of pay, you must include not only hourly wages and/or salary paid but also include commissions, non-discretionary bonuses and other types of compensation. Most bonuses are considered non-discretionary. Many employers fail to include this additional compensation in calculating overtime rates.
Employees are owed one and a half times their regular rate for more than 8 hours in a workday, more than 40 non-overtime hours in a workweek, and hours worked on the 7th consecutive day in a workweek. Employees are entitled to two times the employee’s regular rate for more than 12 hours in a workday and more than 8 hours on the 7th consecutive day in a workweek.
The failure of an employer to pay you overtime, not only entitles you to the amount of unpaid overtime, but will also entitle you to penalties, interest and attorney’s fees. The ability to seek unpaid overtime can go back up to four years and can be substantial. If you believe that you were not properly paid overtime or improperly classified as an exempt employee, please schedule an appointment with our office.