California Wage Order 4: Professional, Technical, Clerical and Mechanical Jobs

California Wage Order 4 (IWC Order No. 4-2001) covers professional, technical, clerical, mechanical and similar occupations, such as office workers, bookkeepers, nurses, technicians, mechanics, security guards, drivers and salespeople, but only when their employer’s business is not covered by an industry wage order. It is the order for law firms, accounting offices, banks, insurance companies, doctors’ and dental offices, staffing agencies, nonprofits and many other offices.

Order 4 works as a catch-all for many offices and professional workplaces, and it holds some of the most important rules in California employment law: the executive, administrative and professional exemptions, the computer software exemption, a commission-sales exemption from overtime, and special 12-hour-shift and meal-waiver rules for health care workers. Labor Code section 1198 makes its standards binding.

This guide explains who Order 4 covers, which numbers later state law has updated, and what each section means for you, based on the official text the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) posts as of October 2026.

Who Wage Order 4 covers and how coverage is decided

Order 4 covers “professional, semiprofessional, managerial, supervisorial, laboratory, research, technical, clerical, office work, and mechanical occupations.” Its list runs from accountants, bookkeepers and cashiers to drafters, guards, mechanics, nurses, programmers, salespersons, secretaries, social workers, teachers, vehicle operators and X-ray technicians.

But Order 4 is an occupation order, and that changes everything. The Labor Commissioner’s guide, Which IWC Order?, says to first ask whether the employer’s business is covered by an industry order (Orders 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 through 13). Only if it is not does Order 4 apply.

• An office assistant at a law firm is under Order 4; at a car manufacturer, the same assistant is under Wage Order 1.
• A nurse in a doctor’s office is under Order 4; a nurse in a hospital is under Wage Order 5.
• A bookkeeper at an accounting firm is under Order 4; at a retail store, the bookkeeper is under the mercantile order.

The guide’s Order 4 business list includes banks, credit unions, insurance companies, professional offices, medical clinics apart from hospitals, labs, staffing agencies, security guard services, charities and churches, private schools without board or lodging, telephone, gas and water utilities, and real estate brokerages. It is persuasive, not binding on courts, so close calls deserve a legal review.

By the numbers$70,304

Professional, executive and administrative exemptions

Exempt employees are outside sections 3 through 12 of Order 4, including overtime and meal and rest periods, but only if they meet both a duties test and a salary test.

• Salary: a monthly salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, which is $70,304 a year in 2026 and $72,384 from January 1, 2027.
• Executive: manages the business or a recognized department, regularly directs two or more employees, has real input on hiring and firing, regularly uses discretion, and spends more than half the time on exempt work.
• Administrative: office or non-manual work directly related to management policies or general business operations, regular use of discretion and independent judgment, and primarily engaged in exempt duties.
• Professional: licensed or certified by California and primarily practicing law, medicine, dentistry, optometry, architecture, engineering, teaching or accounting, or primarily engaged in a learned or artistic profession, with discretion and independent judgment.
• Pharmacists and registered nurses are not exempt professionals unless they individually meet the executive or administrative test. Certified nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists and nurse practitioners primarily doing work that requires certification are treated differently but must still meet the salary and other tests.
• Computer software employees paid hourly can be exempt only if they meet strict duties tests and earn at least $58.85 an hour in 2026 (DIR also set salary floors of $10,214.44 a month or $122,573.13 a year under Labor Code 515.5). Trainees, CAD users, hardware technicians and technical writers are excluded.

Titles do not decide exemption; your actual duties do. See misclassified exempt employees.

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Overtime, inside sales commissions and the 72-hour rule

Order 4 matches Labor Code 510: 1.5 times the regular rate over 8 hours a day, 40 a week and for the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day; double time over 12 hours a day and over 8 on the seventh consecutive day. Alternative workweeks of up to 10 hours a day within 40 require a two-thirds secret-ballot vote after written disclosure and a meeting at least 14 days before the vote.

Commission sales exemption. Section 3(D) says the overtime rules in subsections (A) through (C) do not apply to an employee whose earnings exceed 1.5 times the minimum wage and more than half of whose compensation is commissions. With the 2026 minimum wage, that means more than $25.35 an hour. Both parts must be met.

💡 Example: Jordan sells software by phone from an office and works 45 hours one week, earning a $400 base plus $900 in commissions, $1,300 total. That is about $28.89 an hour, and 69% of the pay is commission, so the overtime exemption can apply. In a 45-hour week where Jordan earns a $650 base and $300 in commissions, commissions are less than half of pay (and pay is under $25.35 an hour), so overtime is owed for the 5 extra hours.

Order 4 also says no employee may be fired or disciplined for refusing to work more than 72 hours in a workweek, except in an emergency.

Health care workers: 12-hour shifts and meal waivers

Order 4 has special rules for “employees in the health care industry” (patient care, clinical or medical departments including pharmacists dispensing prescriptions, patient care teams, and veterinarians and veterinary technicians providing patient care). The “health care industry” means hospitals, skilled nursing and other care facilities, home health agencies, clinics open 24 hours, and clinics performing surgery, urgent care, radiology, anesthesiology, pathology, neurology or dialysis.

• 12-hour alternative workweeks. A health care employer may adopt, by the election process, schedules of more than 10 but not more than 12 hours a day within a 40-hour week without daily overtime. Hours over 12 are paid double; hours over 40 a week at 1.5 times; every shift must be at least four hours.
• Limits on mandatory overtime. No one on a 12-hour shift may be required to work more than 12 hours in 24 unless the chief nursing officer or authorized executive declares a health care emergency, all reasonable staffing steps were taken and continued overtime is necessary. You may be required to work up to 13 hours if your relief does not show and gives less than two hours’ notice. No one may be required to work more than 16 hours in 24 except by voluntary mutual agreement, and no one may work more than 24 consecutive hours without at least 8 consecutive hours off.
• Meal waiver. Health care employees working shifts over 8 hours may voluntarily waive one of their two meal periods in a written agreement signed by both sides, revocable on one day’s written notice. Labor Code 516(b) confirms this waiver is valid.

Covered health care facilities must also pay the higher SB 525 minimum wage. See California’s health care minimum wage and 12-hour shifts and alternative workweeks.

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Meal and rest breaks, reporting time and split shifts

The meal-period section printed in Order 4 describes only the first 30-minute meal after five hours (waivable if six hours or less completes the day). Labor Code 512 also requires a second meal period after 10 hours, waivable only if you work 12 hours or less and did not waive the first. Where the Labor Code gives you more, it controls. Rest periods are 10 paid minutes per four hours or major fraction. Each workday a meal or rest period is missed earns one additional hour of pay at your regular rate (Labor Code 226.7); see meal and rest break premiums.

Reporting-time pay (half the scheduled day, two to four hours) and split-shift pay (one extra hour at minimum wage) apply too; see split-shift and reporting-time pay.

By the numbers$58.85

Minimum wage, uniforms, credits and records

Topic	Rule under Order 4 and current law
Minimum wage	$16.90 an hour in 2026; $17.40 from January 1, 2027; higher local rates control (by city)
Uniforms and tools	Employer provides and maintains required uniforms and tools; employees earning at least twice minimum wage may be required to supply customary hand tools
Shortages	No deductions unless caused by a dishonest or willful act or gross negligence
Meals and lodging (2026)	Credits only by voluntary written agreement: breakfast $6.10, lunch $8.42, dinner $11.28; room alone $79.46/week
Records	Time records for each work period, kept at least three years and available on reasonable request; Labor Code 226 pay-stub rules apply

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What to do if your employer is violating Order 4

1. Confirm the order by checking your employer’s industry, not just your job title.
2. Keep a personal record of your hours; your employer cannot forbid it (Labor Code 1174).
3. Save pay stubs, commission statements and job descriptions, which matter in exemption cases.
4. Estimate your claim with our wage and hour calculator.
5. Act within three years for most wage claims (Code of Civil Procedure 338).
6. Talk to a lawyer about the best path; see Labor Commissioner claim vs. lawyer.

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Frequently asked questions

Why is my office job not under Wage Order 4?

Because Order 4 applies only when your employer is not in an industry covered by an industry order. Office staff at a factory, hospital, hotel or retail store are covered by that industry’s order.

Are registered nurses exempt from overtime under Order 4?

No, unless they individually meet the executive or administrative exemption. Certified nurse midwives, anesthetists and practitioners are treated differently but must still meet the salary and other tests.

What is the 2026 salary for the professional exemption?

At least $70,304 a year, twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, rising to $72,384 in 2027, plus the duties test.

Can a clinic make me work a 12-hour shift without overtime?

Only if it is a health care industry employer that adopted a valid 12-hour alternative workweek by secret ballot. Hours over 12 are double time and hours over 40 a week are time and a half.

Can I be fired for refusing a 75-hour week?

Order 4 bars termination or discipline for refusing to work more than 72 hours in a workweek, except in an emergency.

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