Frequently Asked Questions

Authorized hours are the maximum number of hours per month your county has approved you to work for a specific recipient. They are determined through a needs assessment conducted by a county social worker and documented on your Notice of Action (NOA) or SOC 2 form. You cannot be paid for hours that exceed your authorized amount, so knowing your monthly total is the starting point for all scheduling.

A live-in provider shares a permanent residence with the IHSS recipient — meaning you live in the same home. Non-live-in providers travel to the recipient's home each day. The distinction matters because it affects your daily hour cap: live-in providers are generally limited to 12 hours per day, while non-live-in providers can work up to 16 hours per day. Your weekly cap and overtime rules are also different.

IHSS uses a Sunday-through-Saturday calendar week for calculating overtime. Your 40-hour threshold resets every Sunday — hours from one week never carry into the next, so each week stands alone. This matters because a week can also span two different pay periods (the 1st–15th and the 16th–end of month). Knowing which workweek each day falls in helps you track how close you are to the 40-hour threshold and make sure you claim all the overtime you actually earn.

No. Your weekly hour cap limits how many hours you can be paid in any single Sun–Sat week. For most non-live-in providers the cap is 70:45 per week (66:00 if you serve two recipients), and for live-in providers the standard cap is also 70:45 (up to 90:00 with a county-approved exemption). Hours beyond your weekly cap will not be paid. Spreading hours across multiple weeks — while still maximizing overtime — is what IHSS Planner helps you do.

You earn overtime (1.5× your hourly rate) for every hour worked beyond 40 hours in a single Sunday–Saturday workweek. There is no special 40-hour cap for parent or spouse providers — a parent caring for their minor child follows the standard IHSS overtime rules. AB 120 (ACL 23-106) removed older parent-provider eligibility limits and left overtime rules unchanged. Spouse providers also follow the standard weekly-hour rules; confirm any specifics with your county IHSS office or CDSS, as spouse situations may differ. Travel time between two recipients counts toward the 40-hour overtime threshold.

The standard weekly cap is 70:45 (70 hours and 45 minutes) for providers serving one recipient. If you serve two recipients, the cap is 66:00 per week. Live-in providers with a county-approved exemption (SOC 2279) may work up to 90:00 per week. Your weekly maximum equals your recipient's monthly authorized hours divided by approximately 4.33 weeks — check your Notice of Action (NOA) or your ESP account for your specific cap.

Live-in providers are generally limited to 12 hours of paid work in any single calendar day. This rule exists because live-in providers are considered to be in the home and available, but are not expected to provide care around the clock. Scheduling software like IHSS Planner enforces this cap automatically so your daily totals never exceed 12:00.

Submitting hours beyond your monthly authorized amount or your weekly cap will trigger a timesheet exception. The excess hours will be rejected and you will not be paid for them. If overpayment already occurred, your county may recover the amount through future paychecks. It is always the provider's responsibility to stay within authorized limits.

A timesheet exception is an administrative flag — it means the submitted hours don't match what was authorized, and processing is paused for review. A violation is more serious and implies an intentional discrepancy, which can trigger an investigation and affect your provider status. Most honest errors result in exceptions, not violations, but repeated patterns can escalate.

In some cases yes — you can submit a paper correction timesheet (SOC 846) with your county IHSS office to correct an error. The window for corrections and the process vary by county, so contact your county IHSS office as soon as you notice an error. Electronic timesheet corrections may also be available through the IHSS portal depending on your county.

Travel time pay compensates IHSS providers for the time spent traveling directly between two different recipients in the same day. It is paid at your straight-time hourly rate (not at an OT rate, even if you are in overtime). Travel time is a separate line item from care hours.

Only providers who work for two or more IHSS recipients qualify for travel time. You must travel directly from one recipient's home to another recipient's home within the same workday. Single-recipient providers, and providers who return home between recipients, generally do not qualify.

Yes — travel time hours count toward your weekly 40-hour overtime threshold and your weekly hour cap. The maximum reimbursable travel time is 7 hours per week. IHSS Planner accounts for travel time when calculating your paycheck estimate, assuming the weekly maximum for qualifying providers.