California Wage and Hour Lawyers

Sheet 01 · Minimum wage

$16.90 statewide in 2026 — more in many cities

California’s minimum wage is $16.90 an hour in 2026 for all employers, and it is scheduled to rise to $17.40 on January 1, 2027. Many cities and counties set a higher local minimum — for example, $18.42 in the City of Los Angeles and $19.61 in San Francisco as of July 1, 2026 — and your employer must pay the highest rate that applies where you work.

Fast-food workers at national chains earn at least $20.00 an hour, and covered health care workers have their own minimum wage, from $19.28 to $25 an hour in 2026 depending on the facility. You can’t agree to work for less than the minimum, and unpaid minimum wages can bring liquidated damages — an added amount equal to the unpaid wages, plus interest.

Sheet 02 · Overtime

Overtime by the day, not just the week

In California, most hourly workers must be paid one and a half times their regular rate for every hour over 8 in a workday, over 40 in a workweek, and for the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek. Double time — twice your regular rate — applies after 12 hours in a single day and after 8 hours on that seventh day.

See where 8 and 12 hours fall on the shift line ↑

Your regular rate can include nondiscretionary bonuses, commissions and shift differentials — not just your base hourly wage. Some workplaces use a properly adopted alternative workweek, such as four 10-hour days, which changes when daily overtime starts.

Sheet 03 · Salaried vs. exempt

A salary doesn’t make you exempt

Being paid a salary does not, by itself, make you exempt from overtime. To be exempt in 2026, an employee generally must earn at least $70,304 a year — twice the state minimum wage for full-time work — and spend more than half of their work time on genuinely executive, administrative or professional duties that call for discretion and independent judgment. If either test isn’t met, you may be owed overtime and break premiums.

Sheet 04 · Hours worked

Off the clock, rounded down, sent home early

Hours worked include all the time you’re under your employer’s control, and any work your employer suffers or permits you to do — even if no one asked you to. Security screening, booting up, putting on required gear, pre-shift meetings and answering work texts after hours can count as hours worked when your employer knew or should have known about it.

If your employer rounds your time and the rounding consistently cuts your hours, you may be owed the difference. California law on rounding is unsettled, so the details matter.

Sent home early? If you were scheduled, reported to work and got less than half your shift, you’re generally owed reporting-time pay for half the scheduled shift — at least 2 hours, no more than 4 — with some exceptions, such as power outages. And if your employer splits your day with an unpaid gap that isn’t a meal break, you may be owed one extra hour at minimum wage for that day.

Sheet 05 · Meal & rest breaks

Real breaks, or an extra hour of pay

If you work more than five hours, you’re entitled to a 30-minute, duty-free meal period that starts no later than the end of your fifth hour, and a second one if you work more than ten hours. A meal period can be waived only by mutual consent, and only on shorter days: the first if you work no more than six hours, the second if you work no more than 12 and didn’t waive the first.

Rest breaks are a paid 10 minutes for every four hours worked or major fraction of four — usually two in an 8-hour shift. When a compliant break isn’t provided, your employer owes one additional hour of pay at your regular rate of compensation for that workday — at most one for meal periods and one for rest breaks each day.

See each meal period and rest break on the shift line ↑

Sheet 06 · Contractor or employee

A 1099 doesn’t decide it

California treats you as an employee unless the company proves all three parts of the ABC test: you’re free from its control and direction, your work is outside the usual course of its business, and you’re customarily engaged in your own independently established business doing that kind of work. A 1099 or a signed contractor agreement doesn’t decide it.

Willful misclassification can bring civil penalties of $5,000 to $15,000 per violation, or $10,000 to $25,000 for a pattern or practice. These penalties are enforced by the Labor Commissioner and public prosecutors, and workers can pursue them through PAGA. Some occupations are judged under a different, older test, and app-based rideshare and delivery drivers are covered by separate rules under Proposition 22.

Sheet 07 · Pay stubs & expenses

Pay stubs that add up, expenses paid back

Your pay stub must show your total hours, every hourly rate you were paid and the hours worked at each rate, along with gross and net wages, deductions and the dates of the pay period. Knowing and intentional violations can bring penalties of $50 for the first pay period and $100 for each later one, up to $4,000.

Your employer must also reimburse necessary work expenses — like mileage, a personal phone used for work, and required tools or uniforms.

Sheet 08 · Final paycheck

Your last check, on time

If you’re fired or laid off, your final wages are due immediately. If you quit with at least 72 hours’ notice, they’re due on your last day; without notice, within 72 hours. If your employer willfully pays late, it can owe up to 30 days of your daily wages as a waiting-time penalty — the penalty stops when you’re paid or a lawsuit is filed. Earned vacation must be paid out; sick leave generally isn’t.

Sheet 09 · Paid sick leave

Sick days you earn from day one

If you work 30 or more days in California within a year, you earn at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, starting on your first day, and can use it from your 90th day. Your employer must let you use at least 40 hours or 5 days a year, whichever is more. Some cities require more.

Sheet 10 · Speaking up

Asking about your pay is protected

It is illegal to fire, demote, discipline or otherwise retaliate against you for complaining — in writing or out loud — that you’re owed wages, or for filing a wage claim. If your employer acts against you within 90 days of that kind of complaint, the law presumes retaliation unless the employer proves a legitimate reason. Remedies can include reinstatement, lost wages, and a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation paid to you.

Sheet 11 · Ways to recover

Three ways to recover unpaid wages

We can talk through which route fits your situation.

Sheet 12 · Deadlines

The clock is running

1. 1 yearPAGA claims and many penalties, including pay stub penalties; a retaliation complaint to the Labor Commissioner.
2. 3 yearsGenerally, unpaid wages, overtime, minimum wage, meal and rest premiums and unreimbursed expenses. Waiting-time penalties generally follow the wages.
3. 4 yearsA written contract, and some claims under California’s unfair competition law.

Generally three years for unpaid wages, sometimes four; some penalties and PAGA claims have a one-year deadline. The clock keeps running, so it’s best to talk to a lawyer soon.