In California, you are considered a full-time employee if you work 40 or more hours in a week. This entitles you to certain workplace benefits. However, some federal laws define “full-time work” in a way that requires fewer hours on the job. Under these laws, you could be entitled to healthcare or retirement benefits without working 40 hours per week.
California labor law defines “full-time employment” as working 40 hours per week.[1]
This definition of full-time work is important. If you are a full-time worker, you get more workplace entitlements and legal rights.
A full-time employment status does several things in California. It:
California labor laws provide lots of legal protections for workers. However, employers can make certain jobs that are exempt from some of these protections by satisfying several requirements. One of those requirements is that the exempt employee makes at least twice the minimum wage for full-time employment. [2]
In California, the state-wide minimum wage, as of January 1, 2024, is $16.00 per hour.[3] Over a 40-hour workweek this is $33,280 per year. This means that, in order for you to be classified as a full-time exempt employee, you would have to make at least $66,560 per year.
A 40-hour workweek being full-time employment entitles non-exempt workers in California to overtime pay for any work done in excess of:
Any hours worked in excess of these limits are paid at one-and-a-half times, or 1.5 times, the employee’s regular rate of pay. [5]
You could also be entitled to double time pay if your employer makes you work well past these limits. [6]
California’s overtime laws provide more employee benefits than other state laws.
Full-time workers also often receive other workplace entitlements and benefits, such as:
Increasingly, though, employers have been offering some of these benefits to part-time workers as well. This is generally done to:
A couple of federal laws use different definitions of “full-time employment” when providing worker benefits. This can create confusion, as you may be a full-time worker for one set of benefits but not for others. 2 of these laws are the:
A reason for the confusion is the lack of a federal law that defines “full-time employment.” No federal law, not even the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), sets the number of hours for full-time employment.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, makes you eligible to participate in employer-provided retirement plans if you are a full-time employee.
Under ERISA, though, you are a “full-time employee” if you work 1,000 hours or more in a year. This is slightly less than 19.5 hours per week.[7]
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, requires all employers with 50 or more full-time employees to offer their full-time employees healthcare benefits.
Under the ACA, a full-time employee is someone who works more than 30 hours in a workweek.[8]
There is no legally binding definition of a “part-time employee” in California. It is generally left up to the employer to define what “part-time” means.
While the Labor Market Information Division of the California Employment Development Department states that part-time work is less than 35 hours, this is only used to calculate employment statistics. It is not legally binding in the state.
Part-time workers often receive fewer benefits than full-time workers do.
Even if you are part-time, though, you do still have rights to:
If your employer calls your job part-time but demands full-time hours of work, you can file a misclassification lawsuit. An employment lawyer can help you recover unpaid wages and other forms of compensation.
Legal Citations:
[1] California Labor Code 515(c) LAB.
[2] California Labor Code 515(a) LAB.
[3] California Labor Code 1197 LAB.
[4] California Labor Code 510 LAB.
[8] 79 Fed. Reg. 8581 (Feb. 12, 2014).
