Off-the-Clock Work in California: Getting Paid for Every Minute

In California, off-the-clock work is illegal: if your employer requires, allows or knows that you are working before you clock in, after you clock out, or during an unpaid break, that time must be paid. That includes waiting in line for a bag check, booting up your computer, setting up your station, and answering your manager’s texts at night. For work that happens regularly, California has no “it was only a few minutes” exception.

Small amounts add up fast. Fifteen unpaid minutes a day at $24 an hour, owed at the overtime rate because it comes after an eight-hour shift, is worth about $2,250 a year, and you can generally go back three years. On top of the wages, California law adds interest, liquidated damages in some cases, wage statement penalties and attorney’s fees.

This guide explains what counts as hours worked under California law, the most common kinds of off-the-clock work, what an off-the-clock work claim in California is worth, the defenses employers raise, your deadlines, and the steps to take now.

What counts as “hours worked” in California

California’s Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders define hours worked as the time during which you are subject to the control of your employer, including all the time you are “suffered or permitted to work,” whether or not you were required to work. In Morillion v. Royal Packing Co. (2000), the California Supreme Court held these are two separate tests. Time can be paid work either because your employer controls you (for example, requiring you to ride a company bus to the fields) or because your employer knows or should know you are working.

That makes California law broader than federal law. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act, through the Portal-to-Portal Act, excludes many “preliminary” and “postliminary” activities. California’s wage orders do not adopt that exclusion, so time that is unpaid under federal law is often paid time here.

California also requires pay for every hour. Your employer cannot average a high hourly rate across unpaid time to argue you still earned more than minimum wage overall. Each hour of work must be paid at no less than the applicable minimum wage (Labor Code 1197), which is $16.90 an hour statewide in 2026, and higher in many cities. Work beyond eight hours in a day or 40 in a week must be paid as overtime (Labor Code 510).

Key fact

Before and after your shift: checks, boot-up and prep

Most off-the-clock work happens at the edges of the shift, where it is easy for an employer to look the other way.

Security and bag checks

In Frlekin v. Apple Inc. (2020), the California Supreme Court held that time retail employees spent waiting for and undergoing mandatory exit searches of their bags and devices is compensable hours worked, even though employees could choose to bring a bag. In Huerta v. CSI Electrical Contractors (2024), the Court held that time spent on the employer’s premises waiting for and going through an employer-mandated exit security procedure is also hours worked.

Computer boot-up and logins

Call center, remote and office workers are often required to start up a computer, launch programs, connect to a VPN, or log into a phone system before the timekeeping software lets them clock in. If the work requires it, it is work. The same is true for logging out and shutting down after the clock stops.

Pre-shift and post-shift tasks

• Pre-shift meetings, huddles and safety briefings
• Picking up keys, radios, scanners or equipment, and putting on required protective gear on site
• Opening or closing the store, counting the register, and cleaning up after you clock out
• Finishing with a customer or patient after your scheduled end time
• Waiting for a manager to lock up or approve your departure

If your employer rounds your punches or automatically deducts a meal break, see our guide on time rounding and automatic meal deductions, because those policies often hide the same unpaid minutes.

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Working through breaks and after hours

An unpaid meal period is only unpaid if you are relieved of all duty and free to leave the premises. If you eat at your desk while answering phones, keep a radio on, or are told to stay on site, that time is generally hours worked and must be paid. You may also be owed a separate meal period premium of one extra hour of pay. Our guide to California meal and rest break premiums explains how those premiums work.

After-hours work is the modern version of off-the-clock work. Reading and answering emails, texts or Slack messages from your supervisor, preparing for the next day, or taking calls while you are “off” is work if your employer requires it, expects it, or knows you are doing it and accepts the benefit. A manager who regularly sends tasks at 9 p.m. and expects answers by morning cannot later claim to be surprised that you worked.

Other commonly unpaid time includes mandatory training and online courses, required medical exams or drug tests, and travel between job sites during the workday. If you use your own phone or home internet for this work, you may also be owed reimbursement under Labor Code 2802; reimbursement claims are covered in our expense reimbursement guide.

No “de minimis” excuse: Troester v. Starbucks

Employers used to defend these claims by arguing that a few minutes a day were too trivial to record, borrowing a federal rule called the “de minimis” doctrine. In Troester v. Starbucks Corp. (2018), the California Supreme Court rejected that defense for California wage claims.

The case involved a shift supervisor who regularly spent several minutes after clocking out closing the store: transmitting sales data, setting the alarm, locking the door and walking coworkers to their cars. The Court held that when an employee is required to work off the clock on a regular basis, even a few minutes per shift, California law requires the employer to pay for that time. The Court noted that employers can use technology, reorganize tasks, or reasonably estimate the time to make sure it is paid.

The Court left open whether a truly irregular or extremely brief moment of work might ever be excused. But the everyday patterns that make up most off-the-clock claims, the daily bag check, the nightly lock-up, the morning boot-up, are exactly what Troester says must be paid.

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What an off-the-clock work claim in California is worth

Off-the-clock time is usually owed at your overtime rate, because it comes before or after a full shift. Labor Code 1194 lets you recover unpaid minimum wages and overtime, plus interest, attorney’s fees and costs. These are the main pieces of a claim:

What you can recover	What it is	Law
Unpaid wages	Every unpaid hour at your regular rate, or 1.5x / 2x when it is overtime	Labor Code 510, 1194
Liquidated damages	An additional amount equal to unpaid minimum wages plus interest (a court may reduce it if the employer proves good faith)	Labor Code 1194.2
Interest	Interest on the unpaid wages from when they were due	Labor Code 218.6
Wage statement penalties	Pay stubs that understate your hours: $50 / $100 per pay period, up to $4,000	Labor Code 226(e)
Waiting-time penalties	If you left the job and your final pay was short, up to 30 days of wages	Labor Code 203
Attorney’s fees and costs	Paid by the employer if you win	Labor Code 1194, 218.5

💡 Example: Lena earns $24 an hour and works scheduled eight-hour shifts, five days a week. Every day she spends 15 minutes after clocking out in a mandatory bag check and closing tasks. Because that time comes after eight hours, it is overtime at $36 an hour. That is 1.25 hours a week, or $45 a week. Over 50 working weeks it is $2,250 a year, and $6,750 over three years, before interest, penalties and attorney’s fees.

If the same policy applied to everyone at Lena’s location, the claim may also be brought as a class action or under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), which allows civil penalties for Labor Code violations on behalf of a group of workers.

By the numbersThree years

Employer defenses and common tricks

• “We didn’t know you were working.” Employers are liable for work they knew or reasonably should have known about. A supervisor who watches you work after clocking out, or who sends you tasks at night, is knowledge.
• “Our policy prohibits off-the-clock work.” A written policy does not help an employer whose managers pressure workers to finish tasks off the clock, set quotas that can’t be met in paid time, or discipline people for overtime.
• “You signed your timecard.” Signing an inaccurate timecard does not waive your right to be paid. Wage rights generally can’t be waived by private agreement (Labor Code 219).
• “It was only a few minutes.” For regular, recurring work, Troester rejects that defense.
• “You’re exempt.” A salary and a title do not make you exempt. If your duties don’t meet the test, you may be owed overtime for all hours.
• “You agreed to arbitration.” An arbitration agreement may change where your individual claim is heard, but it does not erase it, and some PAGA claims can still proceed in court.

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Deadlines to bring a claim

Do not wait. Each paycheck that passes can push older unpaid time outside the deadline.

• Unpaid wages and overtime: generally three years (Code of Civil Procedure 338). This applies to a lawsuit or a Labor Commissioner wage claim.
• Unfair Competition Law: restitution of unpaid wages can reach back four years (Business and Professions Code 17208).
• Wage statement penalties (Labor Code 226): generally one year.
• PAGA penalties: one year, and you must first give written notice to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.

Not sure whether to go to the Labor Commissioner or hire a lawyer? Our guide to a Labor Commissioner wage claim vs. a lawyer compares the two.

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What to do if you are working off the clock

Your employer is required to keep accurate time records (Labor Code 1174). When those records are wrong, California courts generally allow you to prove your hours with a reasonable estimate, so your own notes matter.

1. Keep your own log. Each day, write down when you arrived, when you clocked in, when you clocked out, when you actually left, and what you were doing in between.
2. Save the timestamps. Keep texts, emails and chat messages from supervisors sent outside your shift, and screenshots of schedules. Note badge, gate or login times you can see.
3. Write down witnesses. Coworkers who wait in the same line or stay late with you can confirm the practice.
4. Request your records. Ask in writing for your time and payroll records and personnel file. Our guide on requesting your personnel file and payroll records includes a sample letter.
5. Check your pay stubs. Compare the hours on each stub with your log. See California pay stub requirements.
6. Don’t sign a release. Don’t sign anything saying you were paid for all hours worked without getting advice first.
7. Get a free case review. An attorney can estimate what you’re owed and whether coworkers have the same claim.

It is illegal to retaliate against you for complaining about unpaid wages (Labor Code 98.6 and 1102.5). If you are punished for speaking up, that can be a separate claim.

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Off-the-clock work is often the tip of the iceberg

An employer that doesn’t pay for pre-shift and post-shift work rarely gets everything else right. When we review an off-the-clock case, we also look for:

• Rounding and automatic meal deductions that shave time from every shift
• Late, short or missed meal and rest breaks without premium pay
• Overtime calculated without including bonuses or commissions in the regular rate
• Unreimbursed phone, mileage and home office expenses
• Pay stubs that show the wrong hours, and paychecks that arrive late
• Short final paychecks and waiting-time penalties

Because these practices usually apply to everyone in the same job, they often support a class action or PAGA claim. Learn more about our wage and hour practice.

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Frequently asked questions

Is off-the-clock work in California illegal if I volunteered to do it?

Generally yes. California requires pay for all time you are “suffered or permitted” to work. If your employer knows or should know you are working and accepts the benefit, it must pay you, even if no one ordered you to stay late.

My manager told me to clock out and finish closing. What should I do?

Write down the date, time, what you were told and how long the work took. That instruction is strong evidence of off-the-clock work. You can raise it in writing with HR, and you are protected from retaliation for doing so.

Do I have to be paid for answering work emails and texts at home?

If the work is required or expected, or your employer knows you are doing it, it is generally hours worked. Brief, occasional messages may be harder to prove, but a regular pattern of after-hours work should be paid.

Does my employer have to pay for time in a security or bag check?

Yes. Under Frlekin v. Apple and Huerta v. CSI Electrical Contractors, time spent waiting for and going through a mandatory exit search on the employer’s premises is generally paid work in California.

How far back can I recover unpaid off-the-clock wages?

Generally three years for wages, and up to four years for restitution under the Unfair Competition Law. Some penalties have shorter deadlines, so it is best to act quickly.

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