Are you exempt from receiving overtime under California law?
An employer owes overtime wages to an employee who has worked more than 40 hours in a week. Non-exempt employees who live in San Francisco, California, have a legal right to receive overtime wages whenever they work those longer hours. There are only a few classifications of employees exempt from this requirement for overtime pay.
Who gets overtime pay?
Most hourly employees in the state of California fall under the protection of overtime employment law. The law in this state entitles employees who work more than 40 hours a week or eight hours a day to one and a half times their base pay for those additional hours. What’s more, they are also entitled to double their base pay for hours worked in excess of 12 hours in a shift. However, there are some employees who do not receive overtime.
Which employees are exempt?
Overtime exemptions depend on the occupational designation. Workers in the exempt category include those with duties considered to be administrative or executive management. Other workers who may fall into this category are sales personnel who work on commission and certain employees who are part of a union.
Exempt salaried workers
For a salaried worker to qualify for an overtime exemption, they need to meet the criteria set by California. The main requirement under the law is that a salaried employee must earn at least double the minimum wage per year.
Which union jobs are commonly exempt?
Being a union worker does not normally mean that you are exempt from overtime. For a union worker to qualify as an exempt employee, the employee’s agreement with their employer must explicitly provide information on the work hours expected per week, gross wages and specific working conditions. For work governed by such a collective bargaining agreement, compensation must be at least 30% more than minimum wage for regular work and premium pay for overtime. However, this excludes “daily overtime.”
If your work does not fall into one of the narrow categories the law excludes, you should receive overtime for your efforts. For disputes on these issues, you may wish to consult an attorney.