Live-in private chef hours in California
A guide for households and the business managers who look after them.
A chef who lives in housing you provide works under a different set of hours from a chef who goes home each evening. The rules come from the Industrial Welfare Commission’s Wage Order 15, which covers household employees in California, and a written schedule that follows them is what keeps a live-in role simple to run.
The working day
In each twenty-four hours, a live-in chef must have at least twelve consecutive hours free of duty, which is when they rest and sleep. The working day spans no more than twelve hours, and at least three of them are free, so a full day is nine hours of work. The free hours need not run together, and you and the chef agree when they fall.
The week
A live-in chef works no more than five days in a workweek without a day off of at least twenty-four consecutive hours, except in an emergency. A sixth or seventh day is paid at one and a half times the regular rate for the first nine hours, and at double past nine.
What is paid on top of the salary
- Work during the chef’s scheduled time off, or during the twelve hours off, is paid at one and a half times the regular rate. That includes any work past nine hours in a day, and any work during a scheduled break, even on a shorter day.
- California sets a salaried chef’s regular rate at one fortieth of the weekly salary. A five-day week of nine-hour days is forty-five hours, and the sound course is to pay the hours past forty on top of the salary, at that rate.
- A chef who regularly directs two or more other staff may be exempt from overtime. That turns on what they actually do each day, not on their title.
A written off-duty schedule keeps overtime off a live-in role. Agree in the offer letter that the hours past forty are paid on top.
Before you hire
- Write the schedule down: the working days, the span of each day, and when the free hours fall.
- Keep the base salary separate from housing and other benefits in the offer, so the regular rate is clear.
- Agree how travel and overnight availability are handled, because time the chef spends under your direction counts as work.
Our role terms sheet lists the six things a California offer letter should state. When you are ready to begin a search, tell us about your household.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Your payroll provider or employment adviser should confirm how these rules apply to your household.