What is the Split Shift Rule in California?
Corey Hanrahan
Unpaid Wage Lawyer
What is the split shift rule in California? In California, employees who are scheduled for split shifts are entitled to additional compensation, often referred to as a “split shift premium.” This premium is designed to compensate the employees for the inconvenience and potential extra costs associated with working non-consecutive shifts within a single workday.
What is a Split Shift?
First, it is important to understand what a split shift it. A split shift occurs when an employee’s work schedule is divided into two or more distinct periods on the same workday, separated by a break of more than one hour that is not a rest or meal period. Things get a little easier when we look at examples. So, let’s take a restaurant worker. If that restaurant worker is scheduled from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm for the lunch shift, and then again from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm for the dinner shift, that employee is scheduled for a split shift.
However, the same is not true if the employee is working the morning shift and then offers to cover for an employee who wants to get out of their dinner shift. In that case, since the employer has not scheduled the split shift as part of the employee’s normal schedule, the split shift premium would not apply. It only applies to shifts that are scheduled by the employer, not to an employee voluntarily picking up an extra shift.
Calculating the Split Shift Premium
The split shift premium is pretty easy to calculate but can be also difficult to calculate depending on the circumstances.
First, the split shift premium is calculated based on the state or local minimum wage, whichever is higher. Here’s how the split shift premium calculation works if an employee works a true split shift:
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Employees are entitled to one hour of pay at the minimum wage rate for each day they work a split shift.
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If an employee’s total daily earnings do not equal or exceed the minimum wage for all hours worked plus one additional hour at the minimum wage rate, the employer must pay the difference as a split shift premium.
To make this easier to understand, again, let’s look at some examples.
For example, if the minimum wage is $16.50 per hour (as of January 1, 2025, in California) and an employee works 8 hours in a split shift, they should earn at least $148.50 (9 hours at minimum wage) for that day. So, if that employee was a minimum wage employee, then he/she would be entitled to be paid $148.50 (with represents 8 hours of work and one additional hour at minimum wage for the split shift premium).
But here is where things get a little tricky. Let’s use the same example above but change the employee’s hourly rate to $25.00. For the 8 hours that the employee worked, he/she would be paid $200. Since that $200 is higher than what the 9 hours would be at minimum wage, the employee would not be entitled to an additional hour of pay at his/her rate or minimum wage.
Conclusion
Understanding split shift premiums is crucial for employees in California to ensure they are being paid for everything to which they are entitled. As labor laws continue to evolve, staying informed about split shift premiums remains essential for employees to know their rights. If you have been working split shifts but are not being paid split shift premiums, reach out to us today for a free consultation.