Unpaid Overtime
Overtime and Double Time are additional compensation paid to certain employees who put in additional hours at work beyond what the law considers normal hours. The law considers 8 hours in a workday or 40 hours in a workweek to be normal.
California Overtime Eligibility
Most employees in California are eligible for overtime compensation. According to the protections outlined in California Labor Code sections 510 and 1194, properly classified non-exempt employees have the right to get paid overtime.
California Overtime Ineligibility
California’s overtime laws do not apply to all employees. The following employees are not entitled to overtime compensation:
- Administrative employees
- Any parent, spouse, child, or legally adopted child of the employer
- Certain student nurses
- Crew members employed on a commercial fishing boat
- Properly classified exempt employees
- Independent contractors
- Employees of a public entity
- Executives
- Computer software employees
- Commissioned sales employees
- Employees of a public entity
- Employees covered by collective bargaining agreements
- Outside salespeople
- Private teachers
- Professional actors
- Professional employees
- Students who work as part of their curriculum
- Taxicab drivers
- Truck Drivers
- Volunteers
According to California Labor Laws, the following professionals have special overtime rules:
- Ambulance drivers and attendants
- Domestic workers
- Group home employees
- Nurses and employees in the healthcare industry subject to a validly adopted alternative workweek schedule
- Employees with a validly adopted alternative workweek schedule
- Employees who live on the employer’s premises
California Overtime
California regulates daily and weekly overtime and daily and weekly double time. A non-exempt employee is entitled to overtime compensation of one and a half times their regular rate of pay and Double time or two times the regular rate of pay in the following instances:
- Overtime for hours worked in excess of 8 hours in a workday
- Overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek
- Overtime for the first 8 hours of work on a seventh straight day of work
- Double time for hours worked in excess of 12 hours in a workday.
- Double time for hours worked in excess of 8 hours on the seventh consecutive workday
Unpaid Overtime Damages
A worker who has not been paid overtime compensation for the hours they’ve worked may be entitled to the following damages:
- Attorney’s fees
- Civil Penalties under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA)
- Costs of the lawsuit
- Interest
- Damages equal to the wages unlawfully unpaid
- Statutory penalties
- The unpaid balance of the full amount of the minimum wage
- Waiting time penalties if the employee quits, gets terminated, discharged, or laid off
California Unpaid Overtime Statute of Limitations
The statute of limitations for an unpaid overtime wage claim is three years before the date the lawsuit is filed in court. The statute of limitations is extended to four years if there’s an alleged violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL). This means that the employee can go back three to four years from the date a civil complaint is filed to recover any unpaid overtime.
What should I do if I have unpaid overtime?
If you are not being paid overtime wages for all hours worked, it is advised that you preserve all evidence related to your overtime hours worked and then contact an unpaid overtime attorney at Falakassa Law, P.C.
Call us now for a free case consultation at 916-680-8486.