Daily overtime rules for California, Alaska, Nevada, and Colorado, plus federal FLSA everywhere else
⚖️ Educational estimate of non-exempt hourly overtime under 2025 rules. Exemptions, alternative workweek schedules, and union agreements change the math.
| State | Daily OT Threshold | Double Time? | Weekly OT |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 8 hours | Yes, after 12 hours (and after 8 on a 7th straight day) | Over 40 hours |
| Alaska | 8 hours | No | Over 40 hours |
| Nevada | 8 hours, only if you earn under $18/hr (2025) | No | Over 40 hours |
| Colorado | 12 hours | No | Over 40 hours |
| All other states | None | No | Over 40 hours (federal FLSA) |
| Schedule | California | Alaska | Colorado | Federal Only |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 hrs/day × 5 days (50 hrs) | $1,100 | $1,100 | $1,100 | $1,100 |
| 13 hrs/day × 3 days (39 hrs) | $960 | $930 | $810 | $780 |
At 10 hours a day, five days, every rule set lands on the same $1,100 because the week passes 40 hours anyway. The gap opens on long days inside a short week: three 13-hour shifts total 39 hours, so federal rules pay zero overtime while California adds $180.
Federal overtime law only counts the week. Work 40 hours or fewer and the FLSA owes you nothing extra, even if you did it in three brutal shifts. Four states looked at that and decided the day matters too. California pays time and a half after 8 hours and double time after 12. Alaska pays time and a half after 8. Nevada does the same, but only for workers earning under 1.5 times the state minimum wage, which means under $18 an hour in 2025. Colorado draws its daily line at 12 hours. If your state isn't one of those four, the federal weekly rule is almost certainly what applies to you.
Pick your state, then enter your rate and schedule. The calculator assumes every workday is the same length, and it applies each state's 2025 rules without double counting: an hour that already earned daily overtime never counts again toward the weekly threshold. For California it splits each day into regular, 1.5×, and 2× tiers, handles the seventh-day rule, and converts straight-time hours past 40 into overtime. For Nevada it checks your rate against the $18 cutoff before applying the daily rule. The federal comparison line shows what the same week pays under weekly-only rules, so the state difference is visible in dollars.
Everything recalculates as you type. Try your normal week first, then test the schedule your employer is proposing. Watch the federal comparison: it tells you whether the state rule is actually adding money or just relabeling hours you'd get paid for anyway.
Take $20 an hour on three 13-hour shifts, 39 hours total. In California each day splits into 8 regular hours, 4 at time and a half, and 1 at double time. The week pays 24 × $20 + 12 × $30 + 3 × $40 = $960. Under federal rules the same 39 hours never cross 40, so the week pays a flat $780. That $180 gap is the whole point of daily overtime.
One caveat: all of this covers non-exempt hourly workers. Salaried-exempt employees don't get overtime at all, and a few states carve out extra quirks for union, agricultural, and healthcare schedules. When it matters, check your state labor department's site.
Four states pay overtime based on the length of a single day. California owes 1.5× after 8 hours and 2× after 12. Alaska owes 1.5× after 8. Nevada owes 1.5× after 8, but only for employees earning under 1.5 times the state minimum wage (under $18 an hour in 2025). Colorado owes 1.5× after 12 hours in a day. Every other state follows the federal rule: overtime starts once you pass 40 hours in a week.
Under federal law, only the week matters. The FLSA requires time and a half for hours over 40 in a workweek, and a 16-hour day earns nothing extra if the week stays at 40 or under. Daily overtime after 8 hours exists only where a state adds it: California, Alaska, and Nevada (for lower-wage workers). Colorado's daily threshold is 12 hours.
California pays 1.5× for hours past 8 in a day, 2× for hours past 12 in a day, and 1.5× for straight-time hours past 40 in a week. On the seventh consecutive day of a workweek, the first 8 hours pay 1.5× and anything beyond pays 2×. Hours are never double counted, so a 10-hour shift produces 8 regular hours and 2 overtime hours, not 10 of each.
Generally yes. Federal law lets employers require overtime and discipline workers who refuse, as long as every overtime hour is paid at the right rate. Exceptions exist: some states restrict mandatory overtime for nurses and a few other roles, union contracts often limit it, and minors have hour caps. The legal question is almost always about pay, not about whether the hours can be required.
Many do. A salary alone doesn't remove overtime rights. To be exempt, an employee must earn at least the salary floor (federally $684 a week, or $35,568 a year, in 2025) and pass a duties test for executive, administrative, or professional work. Some states set higher bars: California's exempt salary minimum is about $68,640 in 2025. Salaried workers who don't meet both tests are owed overtime.