Prevailing wage overtime rules in California

DIR's FAQ restates it and points to the determinations: pay for hours over eight a day and 40 a week "should be not less than one-and-one-half times the basic rate of pay. For specific overtime requirements, please refer to the prevailing wage determinations" (FAQ, Q14). Most determinations go further than the statute. Of the 16,854 straight-time rows we track for DIR's 2026-2 period, 15,757 publish a Sunday and holiday overtime rate, and 503 publish a second daily overtime column at double time.

The multiplier applies to the basic hourly rate. Employer payments are added on top at their straight-time amount unless a footnote says otherwise. The Public Works Manual (section 4.2.3) puts it this way: "the overtime rate (for example, time and one half) is based upon the Basic Hourly Rate only. The Employer Payment is therefore excluded from calculating the applicable overtime premium." Employer payments are still owed for every overtime hour.

The Fresno County carpenter rate (Area 4, NC-23-31-1-2026-1) shows the arithmetic. The base is $63.03 and the employer payments total $39.15:

The footnotes under the overtime headings set the hour limits. Carpenter footnote e says the 1½× daily rate "applies to the first 4 hours daily overtime," for building and for heavy, highway and engineering work. A 13-hour building day for the Fresno carpenter is paid like this:

Other crafts set a shorter 1½× window. The Alameda County bricklayer row (determination 018-3-4, ALA-2026-2) uses footnote E: the rate "applies to the first 2 daily overtime hours and the first 10 hours on Saturday; all other time is paid at the Sunday and holiday overtime hourly rate." So the eleventh hour on a weekday is already at $151.29:

Overtime also counts by the week. Section 1815 sets 40 hours a week as the second trigger, and the manual (section 4.1.6) says that when Saturday, Sunday or holiday hours push the week past 40, "overtime rates (calculated from the premium rate) also applies." A few determinations set lower triggers, such as 7 hours a day or 35 a week, and then those govern (section 4.1.6.1). Four rows in the 2026-2 set we track use a 7-hour day.

The manual says Saturday, Sunday and holiday premium rates "apply for the hours worked on each of those days as specified in the applicable determination" (section 4.1.6). In 14,677 of the 16,854 rows we track, DIR's Saturday rate equals the first daily overtime rate and sits below the Sunday and holiday rate. In another 1,288 it equals the Sunday and holiday rate (in 1,144 of those, all three columns are the same).

Footnotes set the Saturday window too, and they can depend on the type of work. Carpenter footnote g says the 1½× Saturday rate applies "to the first 8 hours for building construction and for the first 10 hours worked on heavy, highway and engineering construction." The same 10 hours on a Saturday pay differently:

Some crafts pay Saturday at double time outright. The Alameda inside wireman row lists $214.13 for Saturday, the same as its Sunday and holiday rate, and footnote T makes an exception for maintenance, emergency and repair jobs, where "the daily overtime hourly rate shall apply to the first 8 hours on Saturday."

Saturday make-up days are the other common footnote. Carpenter footnote f allows a weekday lost to "inclement weather or major mechanical breakdown" to be made up on Saturday "at the applicable straight time rates," and the work is voluntary. The bricklayer's footnote D has a similar rule.

Sunday and holiday hours are paid from the Sunday/holiday column, which is double time in the three examples here ($165.21 for the Fresno carpenter, $151.29 for the Alameda bricklayer, $214.13 for the Alameda wireman). Which days count as holidays depends on the craft. Each determination links its own holiday PDF, based on the collective bargaining agreement on file with DIR, and the manual notes that the DIR website "identifies the particular Holidays covered by the premium rate requirements under each wage determination" (section 4.1.6).

Footnotes can change specific days. Carpenter footnote h pays 1½× instead of 2× "for the first eight (8) hours worked on the four (4) days of each year selected by the Union as designated off/holidays." The fire safety rows in 12 Southern California counties, from Imperial to San Luis Obispo, say no work is done on Labor Day except in emergencies, "and then only when triple (3) times is paid."

A footnote that says a payment is "factored at the applicable overtime multiplier" means that payment is multiplied along with the base. About 3,000 rows in our 2026-2 data carry a footnote with that wording. The Alameda bricklayer's footnote B says "vacation is factored at the applicable overtime multiplier":

The Alameda inside wireman row (061-595-1) has two footnotes of this kind. Footnote R factors a Contract Administration Fund amount of 1.05% of the base, and footnote Q adds 3% for the National Employees Benefit Board "to the total hourly rate and overtime hourly rates." DIR's published 1½× rate of $172.90 matches this reconstruction: $118.875 wage, plus the straight-time payments ($21.16 health and welfare, $24.97 pension, $2.43 training, $1.48 other), plus $0.416 for the extra half of the CAF amount, plus 3% of the overtime wage ($3.566). Pay the rates as DIR prints them; the reconstruction is a cross-check. The fringe benefits guide explains these add-ons at straight time.

All hours in the workday count toward overtime. The manual's example (section 3.2.7.1) has a worker do four hours as an inside wireman and six as a painter: the pay is four hours at the wireman's straight-time rate, four at the painter's straight-time rate, and two at the painter's overtime rate, because overtime is paid at the rate "in effect for the type of work he or she is performing during those overtime hours." The same applies across two public works projects in one day.

Mixing public and private work in a day works the same way. In the manual's example (section 3.2.7.2), four private hours at $15.00 come first, then eight public hours at $30.00. The worker earns $15.00 for the private hours, $30.00 for the first four public hours, and the determination's overtime rate (the manual uses $45.00) for the last four, which are hours 9 to 12 of the day.