California wage and hour damages: overtime, premiums, penalties and how far back they reach

A California wage claim is a stack of separate remedies, each with its own formula and its own look-back period. Getting the stack right is the difference between a demand the other side takes seriously and one it picks apart. This guide lists each remedy, the rule behind it and how far back it reaches. It is general information, not legal advice.

The remedies at a glance

Overtime and minimum wage

Labor Code 510 requires time and a half for hours over 8 in a workday, over 40 in a workweek and the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day, and double time over 12 hours in a day or over 8 on the seventh day. Labor Code 1194 gives the employee a civil action for the unpaid balance with interest, reasonable attorney's fees and costs.

Liquidated damages under Labor Code 1194.2 apply to unpaid minimum wages, not overtime. The court can reduce them if the employer shows good faith and reasonable grounds.

The regular rate is not just the hourly wage. It includes nondiscretionary pay such as shift differentials and production bonuses, so a regular rate that ignores them understates both overtime and premiums.

Misclassified exempt employees are a common source of overtime claims. In 2026 the statewide minimum wage is $16.90 an hour, and an exempt employee must earn a monthly salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work (Labor Code 515(a)). That works out to $70,304 a year. Some industries have their own minimum wage rates.

Meal and rest premiums

For each workday a compliant meal or rest period is not provided, the employer owes "one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation" (Labor Code 226.7(c)). Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC (2021) 11 Cal.5th 858 held that "regular rate of compensation" means the same thing as the overtime regular rate, so it includes nondiscretionary payments.

Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc. (2022) 13 Cal.5th 93 held that premiums are wages. Unpaid premiums can support waiting time penalties and wage statement penalties, and they earn prejudgment interest at 7 percent. In a later decision in the same case (2024), the Supreme Court held that an employer's reasonable, good-faith belief that its wage statements complied defeats the "knowing and intentional" element of a Labor Code 226 penalty. Expect that defense, and build the record on what the employer knew.

Waiting time and wage statement penalties

• Waiting time penalties. If an employer willfully fails to pay all wages due at separation, the employee's daily wage continues as a penalty for up to 30 days (Labor Code 203(a)). Suit may be filed any time before the limitations period on the underlying wages runs out (203(b)). A good-faith dispute that wages are owed defeats the penalty.
• Wage statement penalties. A knowing and intentional failure to provide accurate itemized statements gives the greater of actual damages or $50 for the first pay period and $100 for each later one, up to $4,000, plus costs and fees (Labor Code 226(e)(1)). It is a statutory penalty, so the one-year period of CCP 340(a) applies.
• Meal and rest premiums are wages, not penalties, so they reach back three years.

How far back each remedy reaches

The look-back drives the number more than the rate does.

• 3 years for statutory wage liability, including overtime, minimum wage and premiums (CCP 338(a)).
• 4 years for restitution of unpaid wages under the Unfair Competition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code 17208). Penalties are not recoverable under the UCL.
• 1 year for statutory penalties, including wage statement penalties and PAGA (CCP 340(a)).
• 4 years on a written contract, 2 years on an oral one (CCP 337, 339), when a contract theory applies.

Calendar each look-back from the filing date you expect, not from intake. A case that sits for six months loses six months of the one-year penalties.

A worked example

A warehouse lead earns $28 an hour, worked about 5 unpaid overtime hours a week for 150 weeks, missed 2 meal periods a week over the same period, and was not paid final wages at termination.

The example assumes $28 is the full regular rate, an 8-hour day and biweekly pay. Real files need payroll and time records, and the regular rate has to include every nondiscretionary payment. Our unpaid overtime calculator and PAGA penalty calculator run the pieces.

Interest, fees and the Labor Commissioner

Unpaid wages earn interest at 10 percent a year (Labor Code 218.6, Civil Code 3289(b)); premiums earn 7 percent under Naranjo. Labor Code 1194 gives a prevailing employee fees on minimum wage and overtime claims. For other nonpayment claims, Labor Code 218.5 allows fees to the prevailing party if requested at the start, but an employer recovers only if the employee acted in bad faith.

Some clients start with a Labor Commissioner claim. Under Labor Code 98, the Labor Commissioner may hold an informal hearing, often called a Berman hearing. Either side may appeal to superior court within 10 days of service for a hearing de novo (98.2(a)); an employer that appeals must post an undertaking for the award, and an unsuccessful appellant pays the other side's fees. An employee who gets any amount above zero on appeal counts as successful.

Running the numbers in PlaintiffStack

PlaintiffStack's employment practice has a wage and penalty audit that reads searchable pay stubs, time records and payroll exports and proposes back pay, penalties and pay anomalies, each citing the page it came from. A person accepts the figures before they land on the Damages page. It does not read scanned pay records; there is no OCR yet. Each tool shows an estimated cost before it runs, and AI usage is billed separately from the $250 per case price.