California Implements 2017 Minimum Wage Increase

California

 

Based on the new state minimum wage labor law poster, the new hourly rate has been increased from $10.00 to $10.50. This was effective January 1, 2017. The new rates follow the signing of Senate Bill 3 into law by California Governor Jerry Brown. This is a requirement for businesses with 26 or more employees. The hourly rates are intended to increase annually up to $15.00 by 2023.

The new minimum wage state labor law requires all employers pay their employees a higher minimum wage compared to the federal law. Therefore employees protected by both state and federal labor laws will be paid as per law with higher rates. For businesses with 25 employees and below, the minimum wage increase will be delayed by one year, until the start January 2018.

The increase from now till end the year 2018 will be by $0.50. From January 1, 2019 however, the hourly rates will increase by $1.00 until it reaches $15.00 by 2023. After the increase of minimum wage to $15 per hour, the same will is expected to continue annually by 3.5 per cent based on both the federal and state inflation rates as derived from the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

This update also follows the amendment of two key provisions of the state labor code, which includes a planned statewide minimum wage increase and an allowance for paid sick time for In-Home Support Service (IHSS) workers. IHSS workers provide personal care assistance services to persons living in old age or those living with disabilities and are residing in their own homes.

The IHSS workers’ will be qualified to earn and use paid sick time as from July 1, 2018. The new law comes in place to change the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy family Act of 2014 that had previously omitted IHSS workers from eligibility.

Exemptions

There are however exemptions from the minimum wage laws. They include:

  • Sales persons
  • Individuals who are parents, spouses, or children of the employer
  • Learners-regardless of their age
  • Mentally or physically disabled

California employers are required to display a copy of specific state and federal labor laws at conspicuous places in the workplace.  The California All-in-One Complete Poster package meets all state and federal posting requirements and contains the new minimum wage provisions.

The Labor Law Center offers a worry-free service to our customers through our Poster Service Plan with automatic replacements.  What this means is that we monitor the state and federal postings and automatically send you updates when they are released.  It is that simple!

We also offer our clients our newly updated Education Center.  If you are new to labor law compliance or just wanting to keep up with the latest news and changes as they come out, this is the place to bookmark and visit regularly.

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