Can my employer force me to work mandatory overtime under California Labor Law?
In most cases, yes. There are few restrictions on requiring people to work overtime. The most common limit on the amount of hours you can be required to work is for people who work under Wage Orders #4 (Professional, Technical, Clerical, Mechanical and Similar Occupations), #8 (Handling Products After Harvest), #13 (Agricultural Products for Market, on the Farm), and #16 (On-Site Construction, Drilling, Logging and Mining). If you do work in one of theses field, you can not be disciplined for refusing to work more than 72 hours in a week. If you are not sure whether you work under these wage orders, a copy of it is required to be posted at your place of work in an area frequented by employees. Other restrictions on mandatory overtime include work in a government program such as Americorps and certain other rare exceptions. For just about everyone else, your employer can require that you work overtime hours and fire you if you don’t. Of course, you must be paid properly for all overtime
