Company Blog


New California Overtime Laws for Ag Workers

March 28, 2018

Recent state legislation is changing overtime eligibility for California workers in the agricultural industry beginning on January 1, 2019. Under the current Wage Law Order No. 14, agricultural laborers receive overtime rates after 10 hours in a day or after 6 days in a workweek.

The new bill, known as AB 1066 or the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016, will introduce new overtime laws over a period of 4 years and will make agricultural employees eligible for overtime after working more than 8 hours in one day and after 40 hours in a work week by the year 2022.

Phase-In Schedule
Businesses with 26 or more employees begin the new overtime laws on January 1, 2019, while smaller business with 25 or less employees have a 3-year extension to the phase-in process.

California New Overtime Laws

*Employers with 25 or less employees add 3 years to the listed date.

Seventh Consecutive Day in a Workweek Overtime Laws

In addition to the laws above, the overtime laws for the seventh consecutive day in a 7-day workweek still apply.

  • Agricultural employees are entitled to 1.5x overtime rate for the first 8 hours worked on the seventh consecutive day.
  • Additionally, all hours worked over 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day are entitled to 2x overtime rate.

Tracking Overtime with Virtual TimeClock
Virtual TimeClock is designed to handle a wide range of overtime rates and rules, providing all of the flexibility needed to track the new California agriculature overtime laws. To learn more about overtime settings, see this Overview of Overtime Knowledge Base article.

Redcort Software is headquartered in Clovis, California, the center of the San Joaquin Valley and the heart of California's ag industry. As part of the local community, we're proud to partner with farms and farmers to help you stay current with changing labor and wage laws. If you would like more information about Virtual TimeClock, give us a call, drop us a note or check out our free trial.

The information in this blog is provided as a courtesy and is not meant to be used as specific legal advice. To find out more about these new overtime laws, please consult a legal professional.