Does Time Worked to Make Up for Sick Day Count Toward Overtime?

I’m confused about how
to calculate overtime for an hourly employee who used a day (8 hours) of sick
leave and then worked 2 hours on his normal day off. We paid the employee for
42 hours that week for four 8-hour days, one sick day, plus the two hours, but
do those extra two hours count as overtime?

– Sal in Century City
(Los Angeles)

The HR Management & Compliance Report: How To Comply with California Wage & Hour Law, explains everything you need to know to stay in compliance with the state’s complex and ever-changing rules, laws, and regulations in this area. Coverage on bonuses, meal and rest breaks, overtime, alternative workweeks, final paychecks, and more.

Only hours an employee
actually works count toward overtime. So a sick day, vacation day, or holiday,
even though paid by the employer, doesn’t count in the overtime calculation. The
test is hours worked rather than hours paid. In your example, the employee
actually worked 34 hours in the workweek. Therefore, you probably don’t owe any
overtime because the employee has not worked more than 40 hours in the week.
Keep in mind, however, that if the employee actually worked more than 8 hours
on any workday that week, you would owe overtime for that day.