Shouldn’t I be paid overtime?

If you think you should be paid overtime wages, contact us for a free consultation.

California employees should generally be paid overtime at a time and a half rate whenever they work more than 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week.  When employees work more than 12 hours per day, they should be paid at double their hourly rate.

Even if your employer pays you overtime, you may not be getting all the overtime you deserve.  Employers frequently make mistakes calculating the number of overtime hours worked or the overtime rate of pay.  For example, employers often schedule employees to work 8 hour shifts, but then require them to arrive early or stay later than the scheduled shift, and don’t pay them from the time they arrived or the time they actually stopped working.  Employers sometimes also fail to include commissions and other forms of pay when they calculate the applicable overtime rate.

Employers often try to avoid overtime pay by misclassifying employees as “exempt” from overtime through salaried positions.  The truth is that very few employees are exempt from overtime requirements.  Your job title doesn’t determine whether you are exempt.  You shouldn’t assume that just because the word “manager” or “supervisor” is in your title, you are exempt.  There are established tests regarding job duties, responsibilities, and the form of compensation (salary or guaranteed commissions) that an employer must meet to qualify for overtime exemptions.  For a further explanation of the recognized exemptions, check out our “Am I Really Exempt” page.