California Overtime Pay Law Firm

Under California law if you are a non-exempt employee who works more than eight hours in any workday, or more than 40 hours in any workweek, you are entitled to one and one-half times your regular rate of pay for all hours worked over eight hours in any workday and/or over 40 hours in the workweek.

Some common ways employers may fail to pay overtime include:

• Unauthorized Overtime: Some employers might discourage or prohibit employees from working overtime but still expect them to complete their tasks, leading to unpaid overtime.

• Compensating Overtime with PTO: In some cases, employers may try to avoid paying overtime by offering paid time off instead. However, private sector employers generally cannot offer this trade off except under very specific circumstances.

• Incorrect Overtime Rate: Overtime pay must be at least 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay. If an employer miscalculates the overtime rate or pays a flat rate for overtime hours, it can lead to violations.

• Shifting Hours Between Pay Periods: Employers may try to manipulate work hours across pay periods to avoid paying overtime.

• Working Through Meal Breaks or Rest Breaks: Failing to provide required meal and rest breaks or requiring employees to work during those breaks without compensating them for that time can result in overtime violations.

• Misclassified as “exempt": Employers may incorrectly believe that if they pay a salary then the employee is “exempt” and is not required to receive overtime pay, however, in California to be classified as “exempt” the employee must satisfy specific elements of an exemption. Most employees who work in most industries are nonexempt, meaning they need to be paid overtime to comply with California law.

• Improper Salary Basis: Even if an employee is correctly classified as exempt, they must meet certain salary requirements to be exempt from overtime. If the salary is below the minimum threshold, the employee should be eligible for overtime pay.

• “Off-the-Clock” Work: Requiring employees to perform work-related tasks before or after their scheduled shifts without compensation or not counting certain work-related activities as billable hours.

If you believe you are not being paid properly, it is important that you speak with an attorney as soon as you can. Contact us or Call us at (626) 432-5422 for a free consultation.