I should have worked for Leno.

December 2, 2007 11:44 AM

Help me understand California labor laws about overtime!

I work at a part time job where I normally work 5-6 hours a day. Lately I have been scheduled more days a week than normally. There have been times where I am scheduled 6-7 days a week while still only working 5-6 hour shifts.

I looked on California Industrial Regulation website and read through the labor laws but I am having difficulty deciphering them. Obviously, IANAL but was curious if Ask MeFi could help me out with deciphering the rules about this?

posted by bigcheesegump to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Best answer: If you aren't working over 8 hours a day and not over 40 hours total for the week, you aren't entitled to over time.
posted by 45moore45 at 11:49 AM on December 2, 2007

You do need to be working more than 40 hours a week, period, to be paid overtime wages.

Or over 8 hours in a day, unless you have a 4-day 10-hour workday. I think.
posted by wemayfreeze at 12:03 PM on December 2, 2007

Are you working over 40 hrs/week at any point? I don't know about CA, but that's where overtime comes into play in most places.
Also, does your job have varying benefits for part-time vs. full-time? Would your current amount of hours be putting you over part-time into full-time for decent periods of time? I know that where I live, if you're classified as part-time and work a certain amount of hours per week for a certain number of weeks, your job may be obligated to offer you full-time benefits.
For example, in a previous job, we were not allowed to cover people's shifts if it would put us over 25 hrs that week because if our average hrs per week worked got too high, we wouldn't be part-time anymore.
posted by fructose at 12:05 PM on December 2, 2007

Or over 8 hours in a day, unless you have a 4-day 10-hour workday. I think.

This is true, and if you are working a 10 hour day four times a week, you have to sign a paper saying you agree to waive daily overtime.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:13 PM on December 2, 2007

We just went over this at work since my entire department is nonexempt hourly (and loving it).

Time and a half starting on your 41st hour of the week and every hour thereafter, regardless of how many days you are scheduled to work.

Time and a half starting on your 9th hour of any given work day.

Doubletime starting on your 9th hour of the seventh consecutive day of work and the 9th hour of each consecutive day after.
posted by majick at 12:50 PM on December 2, 2007

Well, No overtime for the hours worked, but you are eligible for overtime pay on every seventh consecutive day, whether or not you work 40 hours, with an exception "when the total hours of employment during such workweek do not exceed 30 and the total hours of employment in any one workday thereof do not exceed six".

That's and, not or. So if you work more than thirty hours in any week or you work more than six hours in any one day, you're entitled to overtime pay for all hours worked on the seventh consecutive day.
posted by Capostrophe at 12:54 PM on December 2, 2007

Or over 8 hours in a day, unless you have a 4-day 10-hour workday. I think.

Well, yeah, but that really applies to any regulated workweek that deviates from the standard 8-hour day, not just the 4x10. For the last 7 years, I've worked 9 hours a day Monday through Thursday, with a 4 hour Friday (and it rocks). Once a year, my employers send around a survey for everyone to vote whether or not to keep that schedule or go to a standard 8 hour day, which functions as our waiver, but presumably we'd also have to change our hours if for some reason the majority of the office preferred to change to the standard.

I've also heard of other offices with a similar deal, where they go 9 hours a day and get every other Friday off.
posted by LionIndex at 8:51 AM on December 3, 2007