California Wage Orders: Which One Covers Your Job? (All 17 Explained)

California has 17 industry and occupation wage orders, and the one that covers your job depends mainly on what your employer’s business does, not your job title. Each order sets rules for overtime, meal and rest breaks, reporting time pay, uniforms and tools, meals and lodging, and recordkeeping for a group of industries or occupations. A separate minimum wage order sets the statewide minimum for everyone.

Knowing your wage order matters because the details differ. Farmworkers, live-in housekeepers, construction crews and office workers each have rules found in only one order, and an employer that applies the wrong order can quietly skip breaks or overtime you are owed. Wage claims can generally reach back 3 years, so a mistake repeated every week can add up to thousands of dollars.

This guide lists all 17 orders with example jobs and links to our detailed guide for each, explains how to tell which order applies, what the Legislature has changed since the orders were written, and how to enforce your rights.

What is a California wage order?

Wage orders are regulations first adopted by California’s Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC). Each one regulates “wages, hours and working conditions” in certain industries or occupations. The current versions are numbered 1-2001 through 17-2001, and they are also published in Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.

The Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) now amends and republishes the orders’ minimum wage and meals and lodging amounts each year under Labor Code section 1182.13. Every employer must post the applicable order where employees can easily read it. You can read all of them, in English, Spanish, Chinese and Korean, on DIR’s Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders page.

Key fact

All 17 California wage orders at a glance

Order	Industry or occupation	Example jobs	Our guide
1	Manufacturing	Factory, assembly, food processing and sawmill workers	Order 1
2	Personal service	Barbers, salon workers, massage therapists, health club and mortuary staff	Order 2
3	Canning, freezing and preserving	Cannery and frozen-food plant workers	Order 3
4	Professional, technical, clerical, mechanical and similar occupations	Office staff, bookkeepers, programmers, mechanics, guards, nurses in doctors’ offices	Order 4
5	Public housekeeping	Restaurant, bar, hotel, hospital, apartment and catering workers	Order 5
6	Laundry, linen supply, dry cleaning and dyeing	Laundry, dry cleaning and linen supply workers	Order 6
7	Mercantile	Retail and wholesale store workers, cashiers, rental company staff	Order 7
8	Industries handling products after harvest	Commercial packing houses, cooperatives, commercial dairies, feed mills	Order 8
9	Transportation	Truck, bus and delivery drivers, airline and warehouse workers, car rental and parking staff	Order 9
10	Amusement and recreation	Theater, amusement park, bowling alley, golf course and racetrack workers	Order 10
11	Broadcasting	Radio and television station employees	Order 11
12	Motion picture	Film and television production crews	Order 12
13	Preparing agricultural products for market, on the farm	Packing-shed and on-farm processing workers handling the grower’s own crop	Order 13
14	Agricultural occupations	Field workers, irrigators, ranch hands, herders	Order 14
15	Household occupations	Housekeepers, nannies, cooks, gardeners and caregivers employed by a household	Order 15
16	On-site construction, drilling, logging and mining	Construction trades, oil and water well crews, loggers, quarry workers	Order 16
17	Miscellaneous employees	Catch-all for jobs no other order covers (rare)	Order 17

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How to tell which wage order covers your job

The Labor Commissioner (also called the DLSE) uses a two-step approach in its “Which IWC Order?” guide:

1. Start with the business. Orders 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 are industry orders. If your employer’s business falls in one of them, that order covers nearly everyone who works there, including office staff.
2. Only then look at your occupation. Orders 4, 14, 15, 16 and 17 are occupation orders. They apply only when the business is not covered by an industry order. (Order 16 is an exception in one respect: it says it replaces any other order for the on-site occupations it covers.)

💡 Example (from the DLSE’s guide): A nurse working in a hospital is covered by Order 5, because hospitals are in the public housekeeping industry. A nurse working in a doctor’s office is covered by Order 4, because a doctor’s office is not covered by an industry order. Likewise, a bookkeeper at a retail store falls under Order 7, while a bookkeeper at an accounting firm falls under Order 4.

A few more rules from the DLSE guide:

• A business is classified by its main purpose. A warehouse company with a sales staff is still covered by Order 9.
• Separate operations of one company can fall under different orders if they serve different business purposes and are managed separately at all levels.
• Order 5 can cover meals, lodging or cleaning services even when they are incidental to a business not covered by an industry order, such as a private school with dormitories.

The DLSE says its guide is not a “safe harbor” for employers and that courts are not required to follow it, so close cases may need a lawyer’s review.

What every wage order covers

Orders 1 through 16 follow a similar structure. Most include:

• Overtime: generally 1.5 times the regular rate after 8 hours a day or 40 a week, and double time after 12 hours, with rules for alternative workweeks adopted by a two-thirds secret-ballot vote.
• Meal and rest breaks: a 30-minute meal period when working more than 5 hours, and a paid 10-minute rest break for every 4 hours worked or major fraction. Missed breaks earn one hour of pay at the regular rate. See our meal and rest break guide.
• Reporting time and split-shift pay: pay for half a scheduled shift (2 to 4 hours) when sent home early, and an extra hour at minimum wage for split shifts. See our split-shift and reporting time guide.
• Uniforms, tools and deductions: employers must provide required uniforms and most tools, and cannot deduct for breakage unless caused by dishonesty, a willful act or gross negligence.
• Meals and lodging credits: allowed only with a voluntary written agreement and capped at amounts DIR updates each year.
• Records and posting: time and pay records kept for at least three years, and the order posted at work.

Some orders differ in important ways. Order 14 exempts employers with fewer than 5 covered employees from reporting time pay, Order 15 has live-in rules and limited coverage of personal attendants, Order 16 requires pay for employer-mandated travel, and Order 17 has no rest-break or reporting-time sections at all.

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What the Labor Code has changed since the orders were written

The printed orders are not the whole story. Several statutes have updated or added to them:

Topic	Current law
Minimum wage	$16.90 an hour in 2026 for all employers (MW-2026), rising to $17.40 on January 1, 2027. Higher statewide minimums apply to covered fast food and health care employers, and many cities set higher rates.
Daily overtime	AB 60 (1999) wrote the 8-hour day into Labor Code 510.
Farmworker overtime	AB 1066 (Labor Code 857 to 864) phased in overtime after 8 hours a day and 40 a week; fully in effect for all employers since January 1, 2025.
Personal attendants	The Domestic Worker Bill of Rights (Labor Code 1454) requires overtime after 9 hours a day or 45 a week.
Meal and rest premiums	Labor Code 512 sets meal period rules, and Labor Code 226.7 requires one hour of pay for each workday a required meal, rest or recovery period is missed.
Piece-rate pay	Labor Code 226.2 requires separate pay for rest and recovery periods and other nonproductive time.
Software exemption	Labor Code 515.5 sets the hourly minimum for exempt computer professionals, $58.85 in 2026, adjusted yearly.

Check our California minimum wage by city page for local rates, and use our wage and hour calculator to estimate unpaid overtime or break premiums.

By the numbers$16.90

Exemptions that apply across the orders

Most orders exempt executive, administrative and professional employees from the hours, overtime and break sections, but only if the employee is primarily (more than half the time) doing exempt work and earns a monthly salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, which equals $70,304 a year in 2026. Job titles do not decide exemption; see our guide to misclassified exempt employees.

The orders also generally exclude outside salespersons, an employer’s parent, spouse or children, and participants in national service programs. Government employees are covered only by certain sections, such as minimum wage.

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How to enforce your wage order rights

1. Identify your order using the table and steps above, and find the copy posted at work.
2. Gather records: pay stubs, schedules, time records, texts and your own notes of hours and missed breaks. You have a right to request your payroll records.
3. Choose a path. You can file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner, or file a lawsuit. A worker who wins a minimum wage or overtime lawsuit can recover interest, attorney’s fees and costs (Labor Code 1194). Our page on wage claims vs. hiring a lawyer compares the two.
4. Know the penalties. Employers that violate the hours provisions of an order face civil penalties of $50 per underpaid employee per pay period for a first violation and $100 for later ones, plus the unpaid wages (Labor Code 558). Workers can also pursue civil penalties on behalf of the state under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) after giving notice to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
5. Watch the deadlines. Most unpaid wage claims must be brought within 3 years (4 years with an unfair competition claim). A retaliation complaint to the Labor Commissioner generally must be filed within 1 year.

Firing or punishing you for complaining about wages is illegal under Labor Code 98.6; see fired after complaining to HR. State wage protections apply regardless of immigration status (Labor Code 1171.5).

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Frequently asked questions

How many wage orders does California have?

There are 17 industry and occupation orders, numbered 1 through 17, plus a general minimum wage order that DIR updates each year (MW-2026 for 2026).

Does my job title decide my wage order?

Usually not. The DLSE looks first at what your employer’s business does. Only if no industry order covers the business do occupation orders, such as Order 4, apply.

Which wage order covers office workers?

It depends on the business. An office worker at a factory is covered by Order 1, while an office worker at a law firm is covered by Order 4, according to the DLSE’s examples.

Are the wage orders still in effect?

Yes. DIR republished the orders with updated minimum wage and meals and lodging amounts effective January 1, 2026, and they remain enforceable alongside the Labor Code.

What if my employer posts the wrong wage order?

The order that applies depends on the facts, not on what the employer posts. If the wrong order is posted, you may still be owed the protections of the correct one, such as rest breaks or reporting time pay.

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