• Nonexempt California employees are entitled to overtime and double time for working extra hours.Time to work, clock-face and money background image by Nikolai Sorokin from Fotolia.com
  
  California employee time clock laws specify how nonexempt employees should be paid when working overtime. Nonexempt employees are hourly employees who are at least 18 years of age or who are aged 16 or 17 and not required to be in school. California time clock laws protect employees who work overtime and reward them with both overtime and double time pay. Overtime pay is calculated as time and half; one hour plus one half hour equals a full hour of overtime. Double time is the hourly rate times two.
  
  

Daily Overtime

• California employees who work more than eight hours in one workday must be paid overtime. The eight hours of work is calculated for actual time worked and does not include unpaid lunch breaks. The two 10-minute breaks California employees are entitled to during an eight-hour work shift are considered paid breaks; therefore, they are included in the eight hour day. Employees who work more than 12 hours in one day must be paid double time after the twelfth hour.
  
  

Weekly Overtime

• Employees in California who work shifts that are under eight hours per day, for more than six days in a row, must be paid overtime for all hours worked on the seventh day. If the employee works more than eight hours on the seventh day of work, that employee must receive double time for the extra work hours.
  
  California employees who work more than 40 hours in one week must receive overtime. Overtime is calculated for time worked over 40 hours during the workweek. Work shifts that exceed eight hours in one day after the 40-hour limit has been worked will be paid double time for the additional hours within the workweek.
  
  

Time Clock Exceptions

• Employers who have a workforce that agrees to a flexible, alternative work schedule are eligible to allow workers to work 10 hours per day, four days per week or 12 hours per day, three days per week, without overtime.
  
  Employees who work under a collective bargaining agreement that includes overtime pay and hourly rates at above 30 percent of the state minimum wage are exempt from California time clock laws.
  
  Exempt employees in California do not receive overtime for extra work on a daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis. An exempt employee is a salaried employee who is not paid by the hour. A salary is an annual rate of pay an exempt employee has agreed to work for during the duration of their employment. Exempt employees may receive overtime if the employer wishes to do so. There is not a law protecting exempt employees from working overtime without additional pay.
  
  

Reporting Time Pay

• California employees who report to work and are either sent home without working or asked to only work a partial work shift are entitled to be paid for half of their scheduled work shift. The pay cannot be less than two hours and cannot exceed four hours. For example, if an employee was scheduled for a three-hour shift and that employee was sent home without working, the pay would be two hours. Additionally, if an employee was scheduled for an eight-hour shift and only worked one hour before being sent home, that employee would be entitled to four hours of pay.
  
  Exceptions to the Reporting Time Pay law are if the employee is not fit to work that day, public utilities fail, there is a threat to the employees or property, or there is an act of God that prohibits the company from carrying on a regular work day.