If you work as an in-home caregiver in California, whether you live in the home or not, you can qualify for overtime. California law on whether you are a “personal attendant” is based on how much of your week is spent on non-caregiving chores like general housecleaning or cooking for the household.
California Rules on Home Caregiver, Personal Attendants, and Overtime
- Personal attendants (caregivers who mostly supervise, feed, or dress the person they care for) get overtime after 9 hours in a day or 45 in a week. Meal and rest break rules in Wage Order 15 generally do not apply to personal attendants. (CalDIR)
- If, in a given workweek, you spend more than 20% of your time on non-caregiving chores, you are not a personal attendant for that week and the regular California worker rules apply (including standard meal and rest breaks).
- For non-personal attendants:
- Live-out: For those arriving at a home they do not live in to see clients, overtime occurs after 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week, double time after 12 hours, plus 7th-day premium rules.
- Live-in: overtime for hours over 9 per day and for the first 9 hours on the 6th and 7th consecutive day; double time over 9 on those days.
Do You Count as a “Personal Attendant”?
California defines a personal attendant as someone employed in a private home (by a household or by a third-party healthcare employer) whose duties are primarily to supervise, feed, or dress a child, elder, or person with a disability.
The 20% rule (measured weekly)
You remain a personal attendant only if no more than 20% of your total hours in a workweek are spent on duties other than supervising/feeding/dressing. If you go over 20% in a week, you lose personal-attendant status for that week and the broader domestic-worker rules apply.
What counts as non-caregiving?
General housekeeping for the household including cleaning of rooms and common areas, mopping/vacuuming, household laundry, making beds, cooking for the household, shopping/errands, all typically count against the 20% cap. Common ways caregivers exceed 20% is in the total time spent cooking and preparing meals (non-personal attendant time) compared to serving the meals (personal attendant time).
If you are a personal attendant (live-in or live-out), California’s Domestic Worker Bill of Rights (Labor Code § 1454) contains a 9 hour a day, 45 hour a week overtime rule for personal attendants:
- Overtime: 1.5× pay after 9 hours in a day or 45 hours in a week. (No statutory double-time tier for personal attendants.)
- Meal & rest breaks: Wage Order 15 generally does not apply to personal attendants, so its meal/rest provisions aren’t mandated. (You can still negotiate breaks by policy or contract.)
What if I am Not a Personal Attendant Due to Non-Caregiving?
If you exceed the cap for tasks outside those of a personal attendant, you are to be treated as a domestic worker under Wage Order 15, and the rules depend on whether you live in the home.
1) Live-out domestic worker (arrive to work at the clients home each shift)
- Overtime: 1.5x after 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. You also receive 1.5x for the first 8 hours on the 7th consecutive day; and double time after 12 hours a day or 8 hours on the 7th consecutive day.
- Meal periods: 30-minute off-duty meal by the end of the 5th hour; second meal by the end of the 10th hour, unless you signed a meal waiver. The entire meal period should be uninterrupted and you should be relieved or work (not required to check on the client, or complete any other work related task).
- Rest periods: 10 minutes paid for each 4 hours.
- Missed-break premium: If required meal or rest breaks aren’t provided, the employer owes one additional hour of pay at the regular rate for each day a compliant break wasn’t provided. If both meal and rest breaks were violated, an employee would be entitled to two hours of premium pay per shift.
2) Live-in domestic worker (you live at the home of the client)
- Daily span / off-duty time: You must get 12 consecutive hours off-duty in each 24-hour period; the day’s work span may not exceed 12 hours, with at least 3 hours off-duty within that span. Work the employer requires or permits during those off-duty hours must be paid at 1.5x
- Sixth/Seventh day: 1.5x for the first 9 hours on the 6th and 7th consecutive day, and 2× over 9 hours on those days.
- Meal & rest breaks: The standard rules above apply (because you’re not a personal attendant that week).
Common California Caregiver Scenarios
“My agency calls me a personal attendant, but I’m deep-cleaning and cooking most days.”
Track your time by task each week. If household chores exceed 20% of your weekly hours, you’re not a personal attendant that week and should receive live-out or live-in domestic-worker protections (overtime, meal & rest breaks, and any missed-break premiums)
“I sleep over a few nights—am I ‘live-in’?”
“Live-in” status turns on residing in the private household. If this home is your residence, you are a live-in caregiver. If you are simply occasionally sleeping at the location between shifts and your real residence is a separate home, you would not be considered a live-in caregiver.
“What if I’m a family member or casual babysitter?”
Some employees, including an employer’s parent, spouse, sibling, or child, along with irregular or intermittent babysitters, are excluded from the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights’ overtime rules.
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