California break and overtime law, worked out on every shift.
Premiums are computed from the real punches, to the minute, and sent to payroll as their own pay types. Nobody has to remember the rules on a Friday.
One meal premium and one rest premium: never more than one of each a day.
The California rules we apply.
From the Labor Code and the wage orders, with the cases behind them.
| Rule | When it applies | What Oh! Thyme works out |
|---|---|---|
| First meal break | A shift of more than 5 hours | 30 minutes off duty, started before the end of the fifth hour. Missed, short or late: one extra hour of pay. |
| Second meal break | More than 10 hours | Started before the end of the tenth hour. Still at most one meal premium a day. |
| Rest breaks | 3.5 hours or more | 10 paid minutes for every 4 hours or major fraction. Missed: one extra hour of pay, separate from the meal premium. |
| Daily overtime | More than 8 hours in a day | Time and a half, up to 12 hours. |
| Double time | More than 12 hours in a day | Twice the regular rate. |
| Seventh day | All seven days of the workweek | The first 8 hours at time and a half, past 8 at double time. |
| Weekly overtime | More than 40 hours in the week | Time and a half, never on hours already paid as daily overtime. |
| Rounding | Every punch | None. Every minute counts, and meal punches are never rounded. |
Built so payroll can trust it.
To the minute
No rounding in California. Courts have held that rounded meal punches can hide short or late breaks, so the raw punches are what get judged.
Premiums are pay types
Meal and rest premiums are wages and belong on the pay stub. They go to payroll as their own earning codes, beside regular, overtime and double time.
Every screen agrees
The phone's reminders, the approval list, the reports and the payroll file all work from the same rules, so they never disagree.
- Federal (FLSA)
- California
- Alaska
- Nevada
- Colorado
- Oregon
- Washington
- New York
- Illinois
- Minnesota
- Kentucky
Read the rules behind it.
- California meal and rest breaksWhen each break is due and what a missed one costs
- Daily overtime and double timeThe 8, 12 and seventh-day rules with worked examples
- Time clock rounding in CaliforniaWhy paying to the minute is the safe default
- Break laws by stateWhich states require meals and rests, and when
Questions about the rules.
Is this legal advice?
No. Oh! Thyme works out hours and premiums from the rules your company chooses. Your company and its counsel decide the policy, and payroll pays it.
What about an alternative workweek schedule?
A schedule adopted under Labor Code 511 changes when daily overtime starts. Tell us about it during setup.
Does it remind people to take a break?
The phone knows when the next meal is due from the punches so far, and the supervisor sees every missed or late break at the top of the approval list.
What if our crews have a union agreement?
Wage Order 16 lets some construction agreements change the meal rules. The rule set is a company setting, so it can follow your agreement.
See a working week before you sign up.
Book a walkthrough with us, or try Solvane Solar, a sample company, right now with no account.