Overtime & Double-time Pay?

[brenn15]

I live in CA and think my double time hours are being counted wrong. I already know that the CA labor law states any hours worked "in a day" over 8hrs is paid as OT and any worked over 12hrs is DT (double-time). The issue is this: I come in and work my 8hr shift 6:00am-2:30pm. Then, I come back at 8:00pm in the same day and work until 1:00pm the next afternoon. That means I worked 8hrs on my first shift, then came back after only 5.5hrs of a break and worked the next 16hrs straight.

Even though this is now a new "day" it is my understanding that since I started the second 16hr shift in the same day that I worked the first 8hr shift (and with only 5.5hrs break between), the count should continue from the prior shift. So, that first 8hrs in the AM is regular pay, then 8pm-midnight is OT pay, then everything after midnight would be DT pay.

My work is currently paying the first 8hrs regular, then when I come back that evening they are starting me over again with the next 8hrs regular then 4hrs OT then 4hrs DT. I don't think this is correct but the only labor law info I can find specifies the hours worked "in a day" but never comes across the situation of a person's shift(s) crossing over into a "new day".

Does anyone have any specific resources that I can use or find mentioning the cross over into a new day or anything close to this?

[denys]

Ask your supervisor/manager...............

[cuartio52]

Ask your supervisor/manager...............

The question you must find the answer to is: Does a work day consist of a 24 hour period? ( It surely should ), and when does this 24 hour period start? ( It should start when you work the first hour, whether that's 6 AM or 12 Noon ) I would say in your case, your 24 day began at 6 AM and should continue on to 6 AM the following day. Hopefully you may get this question answered by a local labor attorney. Good luck!

[galvin]

Each company determines a "work week", which is made up of 7 days. The work week can be different for different employees in the company. But for each employee it is always the same unless they are formally told it changed.

A work day (one of the 7 days in the work week), can be a calendar day or it can be any at any 24 hour period, as long as it does not fluctuate.
= it appears your schedule is 6:30-2:30 and 8pm-4am
= It appears your company is using a calendar day, so 8-midnight is OT and then midnight to 4am is regular time.

this is 100% legal.

[cadby]

It depends on the hour the day starts. Usually that's midnight but it can be any time set by the company as long as it doesn't change all the time. What your shifts are is not relevant. So on the first day you worked 12 hrs the count ending at midnight. After that is a new day and not double time but a new count after midnight until your work was over which was a new 13 hours and regular time for the first 8 hours.

[aldric13]

'A Hunch' is 100% correct the employer sets the definition of a workday
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Glossary.asp?Button1=W#workday

now my understanding of the law is OT after the first 8 hours in a workday so if you start the second shift in the same workday as the first shift it would be overtime then when the new day starts you would be back to regular time for 8 hours then OT for the next 4 hours then DT for what ever is left, the issue here is YOU have not made it clear when the day changes.

so what is your employers definition of a workday?

if it is the same as a normal day you would be owed
8 hrs reg time
4 hours OT
***********************
then 8 hours reg time
and finally 4 hours of OT
for a total of 24 hours worked over 2 workdays = 16 hours reg time and 8 hours OT


so they are paying you more then the law requires, if their days fall the same as a normal day.
if their workday matches a normal day they would NOT owe you any DT....
I could be wrong but it seems they must be interpreting the 16 hour shift as being in one workday for the purpose of paying DT while at the same time interpreting the shift as being in different workdays for the reg pay which makes no sense at all (if their WD is the same as a normal day).....
in this case i would suggest you don't argue the point because you are going to lose income if you do...




as far as i know the only time the issue of time off between shifts comes up is for reporting time pay and how RTP relates to daily OT or DT......



EDIT:
after playing with different scenarios it would seem that the only way you would be owed DT is if the workday change at 4am....
then you would be paid
8 hours reg
4 hours OT
4 hours DT
*********************
then 8 hours reg time
for a total of 24 hours worked over 2 workdays = 16 hours reg time, 4 hours OT and 4 hours DT

since that is what you claim you are being paid it would seem that the employers day starts and ends at 4 am in which case you are being paid correctly and they are following the law.....