I recently spent several months out of town on a job working the following schedule:
Mon. 6:00pm to Tues. 6:00am=12 hrs.
Tues. 6:00pm to Wed. 6:00am= 12 hrs.
Wed. 6:00pm to Thurs. 6:00am= 12 hrs.
Thurs. 6:00pm to Fri.10:00am=16 hrs.
Should I be paid 12 hrs. at time+1/2 for my ot. or
Should I be paid 16 hrs .at time+1/2 and 4 hrs. double time for ot.
Employer is paying the first version. No lunch breaks are being taken do to time restrictions on job and we are not being compensated.Employers reasoning is our time starts over at midnight. Is this correct?

Thank you

Employers reasoning is our time starts over at midnight. Is this correct?

Employers can define when the work day starts and ends. You could work from 6 pm to midnight (end work day) and from midnight to 6 am and be paid straight time, in accordance with California law.

I won't wade through your entire work week to see if you are being paid correctly. My head spins anytime California rules are in effect!

In order to answer your question, we need to know what day and time the employer has designated as the beginning of the "workweek".

In order to answer your question, we need to know what day and time the employer has designated as the beginning of the "workweek".

Pattie's point (I think) is that if the work week begins Thursday at 12:01 AM, you had 36 hours in the previous week and, so far, 16 hours in the next.

You may be owed some overtime for that 36 hours, but I still will not try to break it down.

Our company hand book states our pay period begins at 12:00am on Monday and ends at 11:59pm Sunday but does not define our "workweek".I would like to add that when we work similar shifts on public works projects,our overtime starts after 8 hours whether we work past midnight or not. I will assume that our companys "pay period" and "workweek" are the same so the only time a change in the date should affect our overtime would be if we worked Sunday night into Monday morning.My reasoning for that is by definition a "workday" is a 24 hour period that can begin at any time.Does my arguement make sense or am I wasting my time trying to get them to pay me the difference.
Thanks again,
James

It's likely, then that the workweek beginning coincides with the pay period; many employer think employees wouldn't understand the concept of "workweek", so they just state it in terms of the pay period. So, let's assume that is true. And, we'll break down your hours by WORK day.

Monday - 6 p.m. to midnight = 6 hours regular
Tuesday - midnight to 6 a.m.; 6 p.m. to midnight = 8 hours regular, 4 hours 1.5 overtime
Wednesday - midnight to 6 a.m.; 6 p.m. to midnight = 8 hours regular, 4 hours 1.5 overtime
Thursday - midnight to 6 a.m.; 6 p.m. to midnight = 8 hours regular, 4 hours 1.5 overtime
Friday - midnight to 10 a.m. = 8 hours regular, 2 hours 1.5 overtime

So, 38 regular and 14 1.5 overtime, for a total of 52 hours worked.

Doesn't look like your employer is doing it correctly, although neither of you is. :(

Your reasoning does not coincide with the law. The workweek is a fixed 168-hour period, which therefore has 7 fixed 24-hour periods; just because you start your shift at a specific time doesn't mean the workweek/work day starts at that time for the purposes of computing overtime; that's not the way it works. The easiest way to do it is just count midnight to midnight; whatever hours you work in that period are your hours for the work day.