Wage and Hour Basics for California Workers

California pay law covers most workers — no matter what your boss calls your job, and no matter where you were born.

Pay for every hour you work

You must be paid for all the time your employer controls. That includes setting up before a shift, required training, and any work done off the clock. "We don't pay for that" is not a rule. It is a violation.

California has a state minimum wage, and paying less is against the law (Labor Code § 1197). The amount is adjusted every year, and many cities set a higher one. Never trust an old number — check the current rate on the state's minimum wage page.

Overtime

• More than 8 hours in a day, or 40 in a week: time and a half (Labor Code § 510).
• More than 12 hours in a day: double time.
• Seventh day in a row in one workweek: time and a half for the first 8 hours, double time after that.

A salary does not erase overtime by itself. A worker is "exempt" only with truly high-level duties and a salary of at least twice the minimum wage for full-time work (Labor Code § 515). A job title alone proves nothing.

Meal and rest breaks

• Work more than 5 hours: you get a 30-minute, off-duty meal break, starting before the end of your fifth hour (Labor Code § 512).
• You also get a paid 10-minute rest break for roughly every 4 hours you work.
• If a required break is denied, your employer owes you one extra hour of pay for that day (Labor Code § 226.7).

"Independent contractor" is not your boss's choice

Since 2020, California starts with a simple rule: you are an employee unless the company proves all three parts of the "ABC test" (Labor Code § 2775):

• A. You work free from the company's control.
• B. Your work is outside the company's usual business.
• C. You run your own independent business doing that kind of work.

If the company cannot prove even one, you are an employee — with rights to minimum wage, overtime, breaks, workers' compensation, and unemployment insurance. An older, looser test applies only to certain jobs the law lists as exceptions. A 1099 form, a signed contract, or the word "freelancer" does not settle it. The real working relationship does.