California “Full-Time Hours” – What is full-time vs part-time?

In California, you are considered a full-time employee if you work 40 or more hours in a week.¹ 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.

In this article I discuss what you need to know about full-time vs. part-time work in California. Also listen to our informative podcast:

Full-Time Status

A full-time employment status does several things in California. It:

1. sets the minimum wage for full-time exempt employees,
2. sets the limit of hours non-exempt employees can work before they are entitled to overtime pay, and
3. provides other legal protections and entitlements.

1. Minimum Wage

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, 2025 is $16.50 per hour.³ Over a 40-hour workweek, this amounts to $34,320 per year. This means that you would have to make at least twice that – $68,640 per year – to be classified as a full-time exempt employee.

2. Overtime Pay

In California, full-time non-exempt workers are entitled to overtime pay for working more than 40 hours in a workweek. Employers must also pay non-exempt employees for work done in excess of:

• 8 hours in one day of work or
• 6 consecutive workdays in a workweek.⁴

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

Non-exempt workers could also be entitled to double time pay if the employer makes them work

• more than 12 hours in a work day or
• more than 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day in a workweek.

Note that non-exempt workers are also entitled to an unpaid 30-minute meal break for every five hours of work and a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours of work.⁶

3. Worker Protections

Full-time workers also often receive other workplace entitlements and benefits, such as:

• sick leave,
• vacation time,
• parental leave,
• holiday pay,
• other paid time off (PTO), like personal days,
• health insurance,
• dental insurance,
• disability insurance,
• life insurance,
• retirement plans,
• a fixed work schedule, and
• preservation of payroll records for three years.

Increasingly, though, employers have been offering some of these benefits to part-time workers as well. This is generally done to:

• decrease worker turnover,
• attract better or more dedicated workers,
• reduce worker burnout, and
• improve worker morale.

California’s overtime laws provide more employee benefits than other state laws.

Federal Law

Some 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. Two of these laws are the:

1. Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and
2. Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The confusion is caused by 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.

ERISA

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

ACA

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), or 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 or more than 130 a month.

Small employers (with fewer than 50 full-time employees) decide who gets benefits. However, if offered to full-time employees, the standards for receiving those benefits must be the same for everyone.⁸

Part-Time Work

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:

• the applicable minimum wage,
• rest periods and meal breaks, and
• freedom from harassment or discrimination in the workplace.

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.

Additional Reading

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Job attitudes of part-time vs. full-time workers: A meta-analytic review – Journal of Occupation and Organizational Psychology.
• Reconceptualizing the Nature and Consequences of Part-Time Work – Academy of Management Review.
• Why Do Part-Time Workers Earn Less? The Role of Worker and Job Skills – ILR Review.
• Part-Time Work: A Threat to Labor Standards? – Part-Time Prospects.
• Voluntary Part-Time Workers: A Growing Part of the Labor Force – Monthly Labor Review.

Legal References