12.4.24
By Molly Wood, SPHR, MAOL Senior HR Consultant. 
With the holiday season upon us, employers and employees alike are gearing up for the busiest time of the year. With all the festivities and gift-giving, it’s no wonder that employees might be eager to pick up a few extra shifts to pad their holiday budgets. Meanwhile, employers might be tempted to ask their staff to put in a few more hours to keep up with the increased demand.
But before you start scheduling those extra shifts, it’s essential to remember the Golden State’s rules on overtime. In California, overtime pay is due when an employee works more than eight hours in a day, more than 40 hours in a workweek, or when an employee works seven consecutive days in their designated workweek. The first two are fairly simple, but the seven-day rule can get a little crunchy.
Let’s say your workweek runs from Sunday to Saturday. If an employee works all seven days, you’ll owe them overtime pay for that seventh day. Easy peasy. But what if an employee works Wednesday to Saturday in one workweek, and then Sunday to Thursday in the next workweek? That’s nine days in a row, but since they didn’t work seven consecutive days in the same workweek, no overtime pay is due (unless, of course, they worked more than eight hours in a day).
As the holiday season heats up, it’s crucial to keep California’s overtime rules in mind. Whether you’re an employer trying to manage your staffing needs or an employee looking to pick up some extra hours, understanding the seven-day rule can save you from a world of holiday headaches.
So go ahead, deck the halls, and jingle those bells – just make sure you’re not jingling all the way to the bank with overtime pay you didn’t plan for!
SDEA is HeRe with you. Give us a call if you have questions about scheduling best practices. 858-505-0024